Since taking office in January, Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh has taken a friendlier approach to interacting with county government.

His predecessor, former Mayor Stephanie Miner, had a strained relationship with Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney. The two leaders openly feuded at times.

As part of his new approach to government relations, though, Walsh has said he plans to “reinvigorate” Syracuse’s participation in Mahoney’s County-Wide Shared Services Initiative. The shared services initiative forced county governments across New York state to find ways to reduce spending by consolidating overlapping services in their jurisdictions.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo created the shared services initiative last year. Onondaga County’s plan was approved 35-to-1 in a September vote. The vote came amid concerns from area town supervisors that the process for the plan’s approval was rushed.

“Our team has met with county representatives more than a dozen times since January 1 discussing areas where cooperation and shared services are possible,” Walsh said during his January “state of the city” speech.

The plan, proposed by Mahoney, is expected to save an estimated $5 million each year. The state will match those savings if towns and villages follow through with the plan, Mahoney said.

Most of the plan’s $5 million in savings will come from an agreement between the Syracuse City School District, city of Syracuse and Onondaga County to buy supplemental Medicare benefits for area retirees, Mahoney said in September.

That agreement is projected to save at least $2.2 million in 2018, but could create savings as high as $4.4 million, according to the plan. Other cost-saving measures in the plan include new municipal agreements between suburban villages and towns to share code enforcement operations.

“County Executive Mahoney, we appreciate your help already,” Walsh said in his speech.

Government consolidation is a hot-button issue in Syracuse. A report compiled by Consensus, a citizens group, estimated between $8.7 million and $22.9 million could be saved a year by consolidating Syracuse and Onondaga County governments into one legislative body.

Walsh has a connection to Consensus. His father, James Walsh, was a member of the group’s commission. The mayor’s father advocated for the legislative merger during a debate at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

“When it comes to representation, we can do a lot better. We propose a model we believe will do better,” Walsh said. “ … If we are starting in a clean sheet of paper nobody would draw lines that are drawn today.”

Mahoney’s shared services plan includes aspects of Consensus’ recommendations.

“When this community talks about Consensus, it’s been ‘A or B,’” Mahoney said after the shared services initiative vote. “And this, version C, is a hybrid that is a lot closer to satisfying.”

During the mayoral race last fall, Walsh said he supported the idea of shared services, but was not supportive of a legislative merger between the city of Syracuse and Onondaga County. The report also proposed a new legislative body with 29 districts and four at-large representatives.

Published on March 19, 2018 at 8:06 pm

Contact Sam: sfogozal@syr.edu | @SamOgozalek