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On countywide ballots this November, incumbent Democrat Marty Masterpole and Republican Casey Jordan are competing for the position of Onondaga County Comptroller.

The comptroller leads the county’s Department of Audit and Control to oversee county spending and ensure fiscal integrity and accountability. While both candidates agree that the comptroller should serve as an independent set of eyes, Masterpole and Jordan differ on their views about how often the comptroller’s office should be auditing the county’s departments.

A lifetime resident of Onondaga County, Masterpole attended Onondaga Community College and SUNY Oswego. Before being elected as comptroller in 2019, Masterpole served on the Syracuse Common Council for four years, the Onondaga County legislature for four years and held the role of City Auditor for Syracuse for eight years.

He said this experience, coupled with his time in the private sector of insurance, makes him a qualified candidate. For both of his campaigns for the comptroller position, he has used the campaign slogan, “Experience Matters.”

“I’m running for reelection because I think we’ve done a stable, solid job in the last four years through a global pandemic that had financial uncertainty and all sorts of uncertainty, and I’d like to continue moving that forward,” Masterpole said.

Jordan, who grew up in Clay, attended Vassar College and went to Hofstra University School of Law, where he focused on tax law. After working in private commercial and business law, he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Onondaga County Legislature in 2006 and worked as a legislator for 14 years.

In his time in the legislature, Jordan served on every committee in the legislature; for 12 of his 14 years, he was either vice chair or chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, he said.

During this time, Jordan said he developed a reputation for drilling down on financial details.

“As a member of the legislature, I was probably tighter with a taxpayer dollar than I am with my own personal finances, so I don’t think you’ll find anybody who’s going to be a more zealous watchdog of the taxpayer dollar than myself,” Jordan said.

Since he left the legislature in 2021, Jordan said he has worked as an assistant welfare attorney for Onondaga County.

With lengthy backgrounds in the financial sector, both candidates said they view the auditing process as an essential function of being comptroller.

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In the past four years, Masterpole said he thinks his office has done well with auditing, having seen both “clean” audits and audits that show issues within departments.

Masterpole said he would continue the auditing work he has done under the future county executive, whether it be Bill Kinne or Ryan McMahon.

“We need to continue to be that balanced, steady, independent voice that relays information to, of course, both my fellow elected officials but most importantly, the taxpayers,” Masterpole said.

For Jordan, auditing is the most important role of the comptroller. The lack of frequent auditing is the most prominent problem the comptroller’s office has today, he said. If elected, he said he would audit as many departments per year as possible, establishing a rotating schedule so that all departments and programs would be appropriately audited.

“That’s just a critical aspect of the position, and again, it’s something that is statutorily required under the county charter, and it’s just simply not being done,” Jordan said. “That creates a problem and potential risks to build the county and the county’s finances.”

Mark Brockway, an assistant teaching professor of political science at Syracuse University, said that since the county’s spending is public information, he is skeptical of claims that financial oversight alone will fix any of the problems the county faces.

He pointed to the $85 million aquarium that is set to be built in Syracuse’s Inner Harbor as an example.

“The judgment about whether or not that’s a good use of money; that is the real question,” Brockway said.

To Masterpole, one of the most pressing issues facing Onondaga County is the impending arrival of Micron Technology. The $100 billion investment will come with lots of infrastructure needs as well as services provided by the county government, such as a stable water supply — which will be both an opportunity and a challenge, he said.

Though the Micron investment is a recent development for the county to navigate, Masterpole said the ongoing lead crisis and child poverty still remain significant challenges.

As a fiscal conservative, Jordan said fiscal responsibility in Onondaga County means the government operates as efficiently and effectively at the lowest cost possible.

“To me, it’s critically important to make sure that monies are being spent appropriately, that we’re not spending anything more than we absolutely need to or more than what was authorized by the legislature and the county executive’s office,” he said.

Masterpole said allocating generous funding doesn’t necessarily mean the spending is wasteful. He said fiscal responsibility means delivering essential services, like plowing roads and maintaining parks, to taxpayers without wasting any money.

Though Jordan and Masterpole identify with different parties, both candidates said their party affiliations play little to no role in their decision-making.

When Jordan was an Onondaga County legislator, he said he often took positions contrary to those of his party.

“I made my decisions in the positions that I held solely based upon what I thought was the best interest of my constituents and the people of the county, regardless of party politics, partisanship, or political pressure or influence,” Jordan said.

Though he said he has democratic values as a person, Masterpole said auditing should be as apolitical and unbiased as possible.

“We’re just going to provide the facts to county government, to county taxpayers, residents, other elected officials, provide them with the facts and let the readers and taxpayers make up their mind on their own opinions,” Masterpole said.

Brockway said although both candidates can strive to be independent, they are both members of political parties elected to positions that will ultimately be affected by politics. Since the 2021 election, the county has been led by a Republican-majority legislature, which complicates the comptroller’s independent role, he said.

“I would question the ability of any elected official to be independent no matter what their position,” Brockway said.

Beyond auditing and serving as an advocate for the taxpayers, Jordan said that if elected, he will serve as a resource for the legislature and for the county executive to help the county government be more effective.

In his role as an elected official, Masterpole said he prioritizes honesty and accountability. He said he discusses finances openly with constituents via phone calls and social media.

Brockway encouraged students to participate in the upcoming election to have their voice heard on county issues.

“The oversight comes from the voters. The oversight is whether or not you think that the county is spending their money in the right way,” Brockway said. “If you don’t agree that the county should have spent $85 million on the aquarium, then your job is to vote out the people that spent that money.”

Early voting for the election begins on Oct. 28, and election day is Nov. 7.

Published on October 26, 2023 at 12:46 am

Contact Claire: charri39@syr.edu