North Syracuse fire chief challenges budget cuts

By Ashley M. Casey
Staff Writer

Taxes in the village of North Syracuse likely will go up for the 2016-17 fiscal year, so Fire Chief Tim Ellis wants to know why more than $40,000 was slashed from the North Syracuse Fire Department’s budget.
Ellis questioned the village of North Syracuse’s board of trustees at its April 14 meeting, noting that the board had approved the NSFD’s proposed budget back in September.
For the 2015-16 fiscal year, the village board had approved $448,153 for the NSFD; for 2016-17, the tentative budget shows only $405,816 for the fire department.
Among the cuts:
• $14,000 less for gas and oil
• $3,128 less for diesel fuel
• $8,000 less for vehicle and equipment maintenance
Ellis called his department “very fiscally responsible” and said it was “remarkable” that the NSFD’s budget has remained stable over the years, thanks to grants and a long-range plan.
“What happened?” Ellis asked. “A 40 percent decrease in our fuel budget is just unacceptable.”
“It is not only the fire department that had to take a decrease,” Trustee Pat Gustafson said.
Trustee Diane Browning said many departments made their own cuts before presenting their budgets to the mayor. Trustee Paul Linnertz said Mayor Gary Butterfield told him that the fuel cuts were based on consumption. Butterfield said fuel costs are down as well.
Butterfield told Ellis that he made the decision to cut the fire budget, not the board.
“The trustees really were not the ones that made the decision — I made that decision with input from our clerk/treasurer, so you guys are off the hook,” he said.
Butterfield said it is difficult to gauge the fire budget in the middle of the village’s fiscal year and he goes through the village’s final budget “line by line.”
“[The fire] budget is mid-year, so it doesn’t get the same level of scrutiny,” he said.
According to the tentative budget, taxes will rise more than 4 percent in North Syracuse.
“Where are the increases if we’re doing all these cuts?” Ellis asked.
Butterfield said wage increases make up a large part of the budget. Clerk/Treasurer Dianne Kufel said about 60 percent of the budget goes toward labor and benefits, while 40 percent goes to providing village services.
“Leave the money that was put there for fire protection where it belongs. That’s all I ask,” Ellis said.
“We’ll take that into consideration,” Butterfield said.
The village board will vote on the final 2016-17 budget at its April 28 meeting.
By the numbers: North Syracuse’s 2016-17 budget projections
According to the projected budget, appropriations total $4,838,151, a 5.4 percent decrease from the modified 2015-16 budget of $5,115,723.82 and a 0.3 percent decrease from the original 2015-16 budget of $4,852,842.
Taxes are expected to increase about 4.2 percent. The village is seeking to raise $2,922,995 in taxes, $117,482 more than the current fiscal year’s tax levy of $2,805,513.
“This year, we did do a little spike, but I don’t think there’s anything totally unreasonable in this budget,” Kufel said, noting that taxes had remained stable for several years.
Cicero residents, who make up 36.73 percent of the village’s tax base, will see a tax increase from $9.75 per $1,000 of assessed value to $10.07. In other words, a homeowner whose property is assessed at $120,000 will pay $1,208.34 this year, $38.46 more than in 2015-16.
Clay residents, who make up 63.27 of the village’s tax base, will see their taxes increase as well. Based on a partial assessment value, a Clay house worth $120,000 is assessed at $5,172 this year. The new tax rate is $233.64 per $1,000 of assessed value, so the owner of that $120,000 house will pay the village $1,208.37 this year. Last year’s tax bill for a $120,000 house was $1,170.06.