Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh’s 2020 budget raises property taxes and water rates, shrinks the city’s budget deficit and adds a new class of police officers and firefighters.

Walsh presented his budget to the Common Council at City Hall on Monday. The proposed budget would raise property taxes by 3.5% and water rates by 4%. The increases would cost the average Syracuse household about $92, Walsh said.

Tax increases are needed to decrease the city’s budget deficit, he said. The city projects it will need to draw $8.1 million from its rainy day fund to prevent layoffs or program cuts, he said. The projected deficit is the lowest since 2010.

The tax and water rate hikes will provide more than $4 million to the city and $1.56 million to the Syracuse City School District. The Common Council last approved a tax increase in 2011.

Walsh also said the city’s biggest revenue sources — state and municipal aid — have not increased from the last fiscal year. Last year, Walsh’s first budget kept departmental spending flat without raising taxes.

“This isn’t something we came to lightly,” Walsh said. “We felt we would benefit from a year of managing our finances under our belt in order to make sure when we look in the eyes of our taxpayers and our constituents, we can ensure that we are spending their valuable tax dollars as efficiently and effectively as possible.”

The operation budget totals $252.5 million. It proposes adding funds for street reconstruction, sidewalk snow removal, an additional street repair crew, a full rollout of police body cameras and the installation of LED lighting on city-owned street lights.

A new police officer class is intended to improve patrol presence, while a new firefighter class will offset retirements, according to a press release from the mayor’s office.

Walsh also proposed community initiatives in his budget, including providing $150,000 to teen programs at the Southwest Community Center and the Boys & Girls Club. He also said the budget restores staffing to Westmoreland Park in Syracuse’s Eastside neighborhood, which has been closed for five years.

If approved, the budget would also allocate $75,000 to a deer and tick management program in city neighborhoods and an additional $100,000 to the Skaneateles Lake Watershed Agriculture Program to fight algal blooms. The program controls water flow into Skaneateles Lake, the source of the city’s drinking water.

Walsh said the city’s rainy day fund is projected to be at least $47 million in June 2019. For fiscal year 2019, the projected deficit was $11 million, but the deficit is currently down to about $6 million, he said.

Walsh added that his budget is making progress toward decreasing that deficit: proposed tax increases, a projected 3% growth in sales tax and $3 million cost reduction from the city buying its street lights from National Grid.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Walsh said. “As long as we are operating at a deficit, we are operating unsustainably.”

The Common Council will spend the next month reviewing the budget. A budget hearing will be held at City Hall on April 30.

Published on April 8, 2019 at 10:07 pm

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