By Ashley M. Casey
Staff Writer
Taxpayers in North Syracuse will have to fork over a few more dollars to the village this fiscal year. The 2018-19 budget includes a 1.9 percent tax increase, just under the state-mandated 2 percent tax cap. The North Syracuse Village Board of Trustees approved the roughly $5.1 million budget at its April 26 meeting.
Check out the infographic for a quick budget overview, and read on for more details.
North Syracuse’s 2018-19 budget totals $5,097,526, compared to the current fiscal year’s $5,064,867. The lion’s share of the budget, as usual, goes toward public safety (33 percent, or $1,650,515) and employee benefits (22 percent, or $1,070,990).
Included in the public safety portion of the budget is the North Syracuse Fire Department, which will receive $504,639 in the 2018-19 fiscal year. That’s $56,133 more than what the fire department received for 2017-18.
Despite this overall increase, NSFD Chief Bob Liberatore took issue with the budget. He said the fire department received 13 percent less than it originally requested.
“I understand that everybody had to take a decrease,” Liberatore said. “Thirteen percent’s a huge hit to the fire department budget.”
Liberatore said he was concerned about the cost of replacing a tile floor and $20,000 in unexpected repair costs.
According to the village’s budget documents, the tile floor replacement will be absorbed into the 2017-18 budget. Also included in the new budget for the fire department are:
• CoRayVac heating system: $35,000
• Boiler replacement: $18,000
• Meeting hall audiovisual equipment: $15,700
• $25,000 for the reserve fund
Mayor Gary Butterfield told the Star-Review that he had worked with former Chief Christopher Strong to negotiate the budget. Liberatore was elected as chief earlier this year.
Trustee Chuck Henry said every department has to “tighten up our belts.”
“After looking at your budget sheet, I see a lot of places that have inflated over the last year, so maybe you can adjust some of your numbers there,” Henry said.
Both Henry and Butterfield said they were pleased that the budget came in under the tax cap.
Other major items in the 2018-19 village budget include:
• Reopening/removal of “porkchop” island on Church Street: $60,000, which will be covered by a grant
• Ford SUV for the North Syracuse Police Department: $14,000 annually for three-year lease
• TAP grant engineering costs: $25,000
• Projected increase in trash pickup contract: $20,000.
The budget also includes the following items for the Village Department of Public Works:
• Equipment rental: $15,000
• Toolcat: $16,000 annually for three-year lease
• Truck with plow: $12,000 annually for three-year lease
• Bucket truck: $12,000 annually for five-year lease
Trustees nix lieutenant proposal
With the budget vote behind them, the trustees next discussed a possible addition to the North Syracuse Police Department roster.
Chief Steve Rotunno requested that the village create a position for a part-time lieutenant, and he had a particular candidate in mind. Mayor Gary Butterfield and Trustee Kevin Parker, who is the board liaison to the police department, met with the candidate last Monday before putting the item on the April 26 agenda.
Trustee Pat Gustafson said she first learned of the proposal through an email the mayor sent to the trustees last Monday evening.
“Shouldn’t we have been told that this was a possibility that this was coming?” asked Trustee Pat Gustafson. “Three days is not enough time to research this.”
Gustafson also voiced her displeasure upon learning that Rotunno had approached Parker and the mayor “two or three weeks ago,” Butterfield said.
“I am upset about the fact that three of us on this board were not even told of the possibility of this happening until 8:01 on [Monday] night,” Gustafson said. “The rest of you knew. You’re telling me now you knew weeks ahead of time.”
Butterfield told the Star-Review that he wanted to move the proposal along quickly for the sake of Rotunno’s candidate. He said he did not think to share the information with the other trustees when he discussed it with Rotunno a few weeks previously because usually department heads contact their respective liaison with an issue before going to the mayor and eventually the board.
Rotunno said the NSPD’s responsibilities are growing and he is looking out for the village’s best interests. The department is at its limit of 10 full-time employees, Rotunno said, but there is space in the budget for six part-timers.
“We are the busiest village in Onondaga County as far as law enforcement calls for service,” Rotunno said. “We do not have a second-in-command. Solvay has a full-time lieutenant, Baldwinsville has a full-time lieutenant, the village of Marcellus has a part-time captain, and we handle four times as many calls as the village of Marcellus.”
Trustee Chuck Henry noted that previous Chief Mike Crowell made do without a lieutenant. Crowell served as chief from 2012 to 2017.
“When Mike Crowell was here, he took us to a new level,” Henry said. “I don’t mean to get on you, but you’ve been here six months.”
In those six months, Henry said, the village has purchased another police car and hired a full-time officer. Henry said he was “not in love with” those moves.
“Just because you have money in your budget doesn’t mean you have to spend it,” Henry said.
Gustafson, Henry and Deputy Mayor Diane Browning voted down the proposal to create the position of lieutenant, with only Parker and Butterfield voting in favor of it.
