Plans to support Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh’s pledge to create cost-saving initiatives between the city and Onondaga County are still in the early stages of being developed, a city official recently said.

In his “state of the city” address, Walsh said he plans to “reinvigorate” Syracuse’s participation in Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney’s shared services plan, which was mandated by New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo last year. That plan is estimated to save $5 million in government costs.

Mahoney and former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner frequently clashed over government consolidation, and Miner was a vocal critic of a citizen group’s proposed merger of the city of Syracuse and Onondaga County governments. That legislative merger idea is not the same as Mahoney’s shared services plan.

Bob Andrews, director of intergovernmental affairs and shared services for the city of Syracuse, said shared services can be a mix of things, including the exchange of information among municipalities.

“The mayor just does not want to have shared services or consolidate services just for the heck of it,” Andrews said. “There has to be a better way to benefit the taxpayer in the end.”

But there’s no timeline currently as to what Walsh’s shared services initiative will exactly look like since it’s still in the early planning stages, Andrews said, and the city is currently not ready to release any specific ideas to the public.

Andrews said Syracuse and Onondaga County have already started sharing services and the Onondaga County Water Board and the Syracuse Water Authority were consolidated last year.

The city official added, though, that Syracuse has already met with the mayors of several neighboring towns and villages to discuss the possibility of sharing different services.

“I think that the mayor has been vocal about that,” said Cornelius Murphy, co-founder of Consensus and former president of SUNY-ESF. “We don’t need two economic developmental offices in the city and the county. We should have a joint economic development office that both serves the city and the county.”

On the campaign trail, Walsh said he supported the consolidation of the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency and Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency into one office. Those agencies grant developers tax breaks for projects, among other things.

Andrews said the city is looking at shared services as a way for Syracuse to save money. Onondaga County, for example, is considering outsourcing its public lawn mowing to contractors, giving the work to Syracuse or county residents, he said.

Most of Mahoney’s shared services plan’s estimated $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.

“It is not really a codified plan,” Andrews said. “What (Walsh) expressed in the ‘state of the city,’ and throughout his campaign, is the idea in that we need to work together.”

Murphy said Consensus is prepared to support whatever the Walsh administration decides to do.

Consensus has previously pushed for a public referendum to decide whether the Syracuse and Onondaga County legislatures should merge. But Murphy said there is no need for a referendum if the city, the county and surrounding towns and villages decide to share some of their services.

Andrews said a referendum would only be needed if the city and county consolidated into one municipality.

“What we are doing is moving forward with shared services initiatives, and trying to find the best options and opportunities to save money, enhance services for the taxpayer and hopefully benefit the cities’ financials in the process,” Andrews said.

Published on February 25, 2018 at 8:26 pm

Contact Bianca: bmoorman@syr.edu