Liverpool — After a year and a half of study, the Consensus committee to modernize local government in Onondaga County recommends merging the county and the city of Syracuse.

Such a dramatic consolidation would likely save a few bucks here and there, but the average property taxpayer here would see little change to their annual levies. Maybe if they squint.

Sharing services and combining departments make sense for all municipalities. Towns, villages, school districts and cities all have a responsibility to their citizens to provide the best possible services for the lowest possible price.

But if tax relief is what people want — and everybody says high property taxes are ruining the Empire State — do-gooders like Consensus will have to take a long hard look at the county’s 18 school districts. They’re the ones who reach most deeply into the pockets of local taxpayers.

‘Killer tax’

In Onondaga County, 18 different school districts are located within the county, and a number of others overlap county boundaries, according to a 2005 study by the Onondaga Citizens League. All except the Syracuse City School District operate independently from local governments.

In 2013, those school districts collectively spent nearly $1.4 billion, accounting for 44 percent of the total taxes raised locally that year.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo tells it like it is. “The property tax is the killer tax in this state, and it has been for a long time,” Cuomo said recently.

Yet school districts resist change. Every tiny community believes it needs its own locally run schools, but that local control comes at increasingly high prices for taxpayers.

Less for more

The Liverpool Central School District’s 2006-07 budget total came to $120,666,704. Last year, the cost of running the district’s 13 schools went up to $142,711,050. That’s an increase of $22 million dollars in spending over the past decade. Every year, school budgets go up here, even though enrollment numbers are falling fast.

continued — That’s right, our schools demand millions more dollars every year to do less. While some 10,000 students were being educated by the LCSD in 1991, less than 7,330 students were enrolled last year, according to publicschoolreview.com.

So why didn’t Consensus focus on school districts, the highest-taxing entities in the county?

Commission member Sharon Owens explains: “The commission engaged in an extensive discussion regarding inclusion of schools…[and] has established a viable data-driven format to assess the issue of schools that our community can engage in as a next phase of this process.”

For our grossly overtaxed property owners, that “next phase” can’t come soon enough.

Feedback Feb. 9

You can add your two cents’ worth to the Consensus discussion at a public meeting slated for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, at the Salina Town Hall on School Road in Galeville.

Consensus was funded by a $250,000 state grant secured by state senators John DeFrancisco, a Republican representing the 50th District, and David Valesky, a Democrat from the 53rd District.

“So it’s a bipartisan endeavor,” said Salina Town Supervisor Mark Nicotra, who is a member of the commission, representing the county’s Town Supervisors Association.

For info, visit ConsensusCNY.com.

E.S.P. at Sitrus

E.S.P., the Sammy-winning jazz band led by Liverpool bassist Matt Vacanti, performs at 6 p.m., Friday, Feb. 5, at Sitrus on the Hill at the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel, 801 University Ave.. Ronnie Leigh and Marcus Curry entertain on Feb. 19, and Jon Seiger’s All-Stars blow some Dixieland on March 4.

The performances are part of the ongoing Jazz @ Sitrus series presented by CNY Jazz Central, helmed by Larry Luttinger, who lives in Liverpool. Admission is free; cnyjazz.org; 479-5299. 

JASS Jam Feb. 10

The Jazz Appreciation Society of Syracuse and its president, trombonist Bobby Morris, who lives in Liverpool, hosts its next open Jam Session from 6 to 9 p.m. on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 10, at the Syracuse Suds Factory, 320 S. Clinton St., down city. Admission is free, and all musicians and singers are invited to sit in; 471-2253; sudsfactory.com.

The columnist can be contacted at [email protected].