In East Syracuse, Election Day comes a few weeks early this year.
Village residents will vote on whether to abolish the police department, founded in 1885, during a special election from noon to 9 p.m. today at the municipal building, 204 N. Center St.
The East Syracuse Village Board voted to abolish the police force, pending the results of today’s election, following a public hearing Oct. 1.
The move would save village taxpayers $249 per property assessed at $100,000 annually, according to a study by the Onondaga County Comptroller’s Office. Village police coverage would be taken over by the Town of DeWitt Police Department, which has agreed to hire the village’s six full-time officers and add a post to the village should voters approve the proposal. East Syracuse would pay DeWitt $400,000 a year to do so under a shared-services contract.
The village’s eight part-time police officers, clerk and police chief would lose their jobs.
Mayor Danny Liedka says the village’s tax base can no longer sustain the police department; residents in favor of keeping it say the taxpayer savings aren’t worth losing a police department that’s committed to the village and knows it well.
