Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh delivered his final state of the city address Thursday night, highlighting successes and outlining ambitious plans for his last year in office.
Mayor Walsh has seven years of accomplishments behind him, but he’s not coasting out of office. The housing shortage and affordability crisis remains a top priority. Walsh says the city surpassed a five-year goal of building 200 one and two family homes to fill gaps in neighborhoods, and set an even bigger goal in 2024.
“In last year’s State of the City address, I introduced the Syracuse Housing Promise, a pledge that Syracuse will have 2,500 new units of quality housing completed or underway before I leave office at the end of this year," Walsh said. "One year later, we are halfway there and on track to meet our Housing Promise.”
Walsh says the city remains focused on making sure all homes have safe water. The city has been under public pressure to replace lead service lines. Walsh says they’re in full compliance with federal requirements, and ahead of mandates for water line replacements.
“I pledge to you and all city residents tonight: we’re going to stay that way," Walsh said. "In the year ahead, the water department will change out more than 3,000 lines and work to secure the funding to stay on that pace. With continued help from the state and federal governments, I’m confident we can do away with all lead service lines well before the 10-year mandate.”
Walsh delivered his address at Grant Middle School’s majestic auditorium, which was part of phase two of a massive renovation of 19 schools. Now, 10 more are slated for upgrades.
“Planning is underway for Phase III with an expanded budget of $400 million. These projects will take place over the next nine years and work is expected to start in late 2026.”
Walsh says the city’s balance sheet is far improved from when he took office in 2018. Credit rating agencies have upgraded the city’s fiscal outlook, and the city has doubled its reserves.
"The reality is, though, to balance the budget, we will likely have to draw on our reserve again," Walsh said. "As long as we are in that position, we haven’t achieved fiscal sustainability. The building blocks are there: sales tax continues to perform above expectations. We’re seeing increased property tax revenue from higher property values.”
Last year also brought an increase in state aid, which Walsh hopes is an indicator of a permanent change.
Walsh says one of the more vexing challenges remains the city’s deep and persistent poverty. He says he remains committed in his final year to trying to solve it, but acknowledges it will take much longer to address a problem that’s had a decades head start.
