Adopting Onondaga County’s $1.3 billion budget is the legislature’s most important responsibility. It is a dynamic and challenging process that determines the county’s fiscal and management policies for the coming year. When it finally passes in October, the process is sometimes rife with politics and includes at least a few disagreements over a small number of items which comprise the county’s spending plan for the next 12 months.
Disagreement and debate are good — they represent the legislative process at work on your behalf. To serve the county and our constituencies best, it is critical to accomplish as much as possible in the 3 weeks we are given to complete the budget. In that timeframe, it is particularly important to focus on programs funded directly by county taxpayers.
The 2018 budget process was no different. Debates and disagreements aside, my colleagues and I produced a budget that reduces the county’s property tax rate to a 50-year low, reduces overall spending by 1.2 percent (including a $505,000 reduction to the property tax levy) and reduces overall debt service — a solid result.
To its credit, the administration proposed a flat general budget for 2018. However, the proposed flat budget was not without challenges as several adjustments were needed to fund vital programs and reduce a proposed increase to the sewer fund.
Here are a few additional highlights of Onondaga County’s 2018 budget:
• Included in this budget is a local law I sponsored which resulted in a voter-approved shift of management of Jamesville Penitentiary to the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office. Largely seamless to employees, this change will increase operational flexibility between the Justice Center and Jamesville and permits a rare opportunity to achieve taxpayer savings within state-mandated programs.
• Approving borrowing can be daunting because the numbers are staggering, particularly for Water Environmental Protection projects. Despite the amount of court-required borrowing over past several years, the good news for 2018 is that the amount of debt coming off the books will exceed the amount coming on — a very good thing.
• A proposal for the merger of the Emergency Communication (E-911) and Emergency Management Departments was removed from the budget and referred to legislative program committees for further vetting in 2018.
• We restored funding for sheriff’s fleet replacements and required Air One maintenance.
• The legislature eliminated a proposed $20 increase to the sewer rate while earmarking $500,000 in local infrastructure grants. This is in addition to the $4.5 million Village Infrastructure Program, which has been preserved for 2018.
The 2018 budget also allocates:
• $250,000 for the highly-effective Onondaga County Ag Council.
• Nearly $250,000 for our ever-increasing needs of veterans administered through Clear Path for Veterans and the Veterans Legal Clinic at Syracuse University.
• $150,000 to combat the opioid and heroin epidemics.
• $100,000 for continued efforts in deer and tick management.
• Increased allowances to provide purchasing services to other municipalities, which generate revenue for the county and economy of scale savings for all.
• $60,000 in city-based programs for youth, seniors and neighborhoods.
• $30,000 for shared services among local police agencies, County Volunteer Firemen’s Association and Critical Incident Training.
There is hardly anything fancy about the 2018 budget — it is a plan to maintain core services, keep county property taxes low and preserve our enviable AAA bond rating, which is one of the best in New York State. We can always do better, but I am proud to continue the trend of lowering your county property tax rate, levy, or both, in each of the last six years.
I wish all of you a safe, healthy and prosperous new year!
Brian May represents the 1st District which includes the Town of Lysander and the western portion of the town of Clay.
