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Syracuse Furloughs 104 as Financial Impacts of COVID Mount on City

City of Syracuse

Mayor Ben Walsh wanted to reassure Syracuse residents about a range of city services, while discussing some financial  realities that are having some negative impacts, during a briefing Friday. 

On the down side, the city budget is squarely in the sights of the Coronavirus.  The economic downturn is expected to cost the city more than $13 million in reduced sales taxes for the current year.  Next budget year, that begins in July, sales taxes are expected to be down another $10 million with an additional $14 million dollar hit in state aid. 

Walsh called the sales tax hit ‘devastating’ and noted the city is digging into reserves to make ends meet.  He emphasized his administration is not considering bankruptcy, calling it as ‘ludicrous’ as suggestions that states declare bankruptcy. 

Hearing of assistance the Rochester region received, Walsh is now trying to lobby for a fair deal in federal aid for the Syracuse area, after being left out of the CARES Act.

“It meant that Monroe County (including Rochester) received $140 Million to mitigate the impact of COVID 19 on their communities an Onondaga County received zero.  That’s not fair and we need to work with our delegation to right that wrong.”  

City Budget Hearing Mon 5/4 @ 5:00 pm via WebEx online

The city announced furloughing 104 people, as well as freezing spending.  But Walsh tried to reassure residents, saying normal trash collections and the water supply are uninterrupted.   He also noted violent crime for the week is down 16 % over the same time last year, continuing a trend.  Police received 416 calls complaining about people not properly social-distancing; 56 of those were at businesses.  Police generally break up groups and education.  But several have been referred to the District Attorney’s office for further charges. 

Syracuse Schools Superintendent Jaime Alicea joined Walsh to address the state order to close schools for the remainder of the semester. 

“We would love to have our students back, but we understand we need to keep our community safe.  At this time, that’s one of the best decisions the Governor made. … We already have a reentry committee that’s looking at the social and emotional (well-being) of our students and our families, is (also) looking at the social, emotional of our staff.” 

Alicea adds the district is trying to work out a way to honor graduation for high school students. 

Credit City of Syracuse
Mayor Walsh urges city residents to fill out census form to ensure the area gets adequate funding for government programs, made more necessary by economic recession.

Meanwhile Walsh urged residents to fill out the census forms; the city is currently at 43-percent response rate.  He says state and federal aid for programs, tied to population, will be more important than ever as the region recovers.  

He adds there is new guidance on visiting parks.  The city would like everyone to have a mask when they visit a park, and Walsh says while not necessary while biking or running, walkers near others should don the masks.

Chris Bolt, Ed.D. has proudly been covering the Central New York community and mentoring students for more than 30 years. His career in public media started as a student volunteer, then as a reporter/producer. He has been the news director for WAER since 1995. Dedicated to keeping local news coverage alive, Chris also has a passion for education, having trained, mentored and provided a platform for growth to more than a thousand students. Career highlights include having work appear on NPR, CBS, ABC and other news networks, winning numerous local and state journalism awards.