Syracuse, NY — The Syracuse Common Council has approved a 2024-25 city budget after pushing through 30 amendments that cut spending in some areas to put additional funds into housing efforts.
In a series of unanimous votes that culminated in the approval of the $341 million spending plan, lawmakers made cuts to 14 positions that Mayor Ben Walsh had in his budget proposal. They redirected those and other funds into $1.5 million in spending on agencies tasked with working to solve the city’s housing problems, which include a lack of quality supply and a big affordability gap.
“The Syracuse Common Council is united in the belief that the housing crisis in our city requires immediate intervention,” the council said in a statement Monday. “We are hopeful that this historic investment in stabilizing current housing stock, demolishing blight and encouraging future development is a step in the right direction.”
Amendments add $500,000 each to the newly created Syracuse Housing Trust Fund Corp., the Great Syracuse Land Bank and nonprofit housing and community development organization Home HeadQuarters. None of the 14 positions that council eliminated are filled. All have been vacant or were the mayor’s proposed additions.
In a news conference Monday afternoon, Walsh said he will consider whether to veto any of the council’s amendments, but noted that since the council approved all of them unanimously, it may not be worth the time and effort to do that because of the likelihood that lawmakers would override vetoes.
“I think big picture, we feel good about the budget that was approved, but certainly anything that we had in the budget, we believe in,” he said. “And so because some of those amendments include cuts to programs and positions that are priorities for us, that’s of concern. It’s something that we have to take a hard look at.”
Walsh said he is pleased that council wants to invest in housing. The mayor proposed the housing trust fund’s creation late last year and secured council’s approval to get it started with a $5 million state grant to use as seed money. Walsh’s proposal included $2 million in operating funds from the taxpayer-funded general budget for the new agency, and now that is up to $2.5 million.
A council spending cut that the mayor was not expecting was eliminating $200,000 for a compensation study of unionized city jobs. Walsh agreed to put the study into his budget proposal at the request of blue-collar city unions representing about 400 employees. The unions were upset when the city conducted a pay study on non-union workers last year and used the information to justify dozens of salary increases worth a combined $1.67 million.
“That was a surprise,” Walsh said. “We put it in the budget, because we believe it’s important. … We want to make sure, just as we did for our non-union workforce, that for our union workforce, we’re paying people fairly and equitably and competitively.”
Several union leaders attended the council’s study session and voting meeting on Monday after learning about the cut.
“It’s disappointing and upsetting,” said Eddie Olney, president of the union that represents work crew leaders. “I thought we had a deal.”
Councilor Pat Hogan, who serves as the body’s president pro tempore, said councilors never got a clear explanation from the administration on what would be done with a salary study. He’s also concerned about setting a precedent of opening up current contracts.
Olney said he understands that concern, but because the unions’ contracts are expiring at the end of 2025, the salary study would be a good tool for all sides to have when negotiations begin.
The budget approved Monday also includes Syracuse City School District’s spending plan. The city’s portion of the budget is $341 million, a 9.7% increase. The school district’s $578 million proposal, approved by the board of education last month, raises spending by 10.9%.
The combined budgets’ use of property tax revenue would increase by 6.7%. Because of higher property assessments, that translates into a 2% increase in the tax rate per $1,000 of assessed value. For a $100,000 property, the annual taxes would go up by $55.
The budget also would increase city water and sewer rates, with a typical residential customer paying about $5 more per year for water and $15 for sewer.
City reporter Jeremy Boyer can be reached at [email protected](315) 657-5673, Twitter or Facebook.
