For the fourth straight year, at the October session, my colleagues and I approved a fiscally prudent budget featuring reduced county property taxes. Over those same four years, we’ve decreased the property tax levy by $9 million dollars, maintained one of New York’s top bond ratings and have continuously invested in physical and economic infrastructure.
Whether this sounds good to you or like Greek, here are some relevant points on the 2016 budget process and the county’s overall financial standing:
- Your direct cost of Onondaga County government continues to go down; the property tax levy is at its lowest level since the late 1980s.
- Approximately $3.4 million was cut from the executive’s proposed budget. As measures of fiscal prudence, most of these savings were re-allocated to road, bridge and sewer infrastructure work that would have otherwise required bonding. For taxpayers, paying cash is more beneficial and less expensive than borrowing in the long run. The remaining savings were used for a modest levy reduction and to fund key programs to improve the economy and increase public health and safety.
- As a result of continued efficiencies, tough financial policies and strict application of other revenue sources such as sales tax, property taxes account for only 11 percent of the revenue needed to fund the county’s $1.2 billion dollar budget.
- Overall debt service is a small fraction of the county’s allowable borrowing threshhold. Management of this debt is very important to maintaining our AAA financial ratings, which reduces our cost of government.
- Our work with the sheriff’s department to combat mandates and expenses that cause substantial budget overruns is resulting in a forecasted balanced budget for the second straight year. As chairman of the Public Safety Committee, I’m extremely proud of this accomplishment.
- Lastly, we eliminated the proposed $20 increase to the county’s sewer rate. While I’m happy to have accomplished this, we need to embrace the inevitability of rising costs in the future.
We’re not just trying to fix things year-by-year, we’re creating a culture of reduced spending, efficiency and accountability throughout county government. From the county executive proposing an extremely responsible preliminary budget, to department heads and union leadership proactively seeking savings, the people who run county government are embracing the financial goals and objectives set forth by the legislature, which means better results for you.
Brian May represents the First District, which includes the town of Lysander and the western portion of the town of Clay.
