By Ashley M. Casey
Staff Writer
Despite pleas from Chief Tim Ellis at the April 14 meeting, the North Syracuse board of trustees will not restore the $40,000 in cuts to the North Syracuse Fire Department for the 2016-17 fiscal year.
The board approved the budget April 28 with minor modifications, slicing $2,369 off the tax levy reported in the budget’s first draft.
Taxes will still increase about 4.2 percent, with a total levy of $2,920,626.
During the public comment period, citizens made their displeasure with the tax increase known.
“On behalf of a lot of village residents, I urge you not to pass that [4.2] percent budget increase,” resident Ken Ryan said.
Resident Dave Greiner criticized the village for what he called wasteful spending, but he did not specify which projects he considered wasteful.
“We can’t afford any more taxes. Drive around — look at the houses for sale in the village now,” Greiner said. “There’s a lot of things being done that shouldn’t be done — a lot of wasted money.”
Mayor Gary Butterfield said the tax increase was necessary to maintain services.
“We cannot stay within the tax cap unless we make decisions that I don’t think anyone at this table wants to make,” he said.
Butterfield said wages and benefits account for 59 percent of the village’s budget, and such costs are “beyond our control,” he added.
Trustee Pat Gustafson called this year’s budget process “difficult.”
“We all have to take a hit; we all have to do the best we can,” she said.
As for the issue of the fire department cuts, village attorney Scott Chatfield explained that the resolution from September 2015 on which the board voted to approve the fire department’s budget should have clarified that the approval was only for the portion of the budget paid for by the towns of Cicero and Clay. The towns’ fiscal years begin in January, while the village’s fiscal year starts in June.
“Legally, it’s an issue because the fire department budget is adopted at our budget cycle,” Chatfield said. “You can’t adopt a budget in the middle of a budget.”
Butterfield said restoring the cuts made to the fire budget would have caused taxes to increase even more. Chatfield assured Ellis and the board that appropriations can be adjusted throughout the fiscal year.
“We’re not going to let you run out of gas,” Trustee Diane Browning said.
