Syracuse Common Councilors began reviewing the mayor’s budget proposal Thursday, a process expected to continue through the rest of the month. There’s already concern about the mayor’s reliance on the city’s reserves to help balance the budget.
Council finance Committee Chair Corey Williams said they need to know how Mayor Ben Walsh arrived at the $348 million bottom line.
“Right from the get go, I think that we all flipped to the page that has the projected pull from our general fund,” Williams said.
In his budget presentation, Mayor Ben Walsh acknowledged the large withdrawal.
“Twenty-seven million dollar proposed draw on fund balance is not something that we take lightly.”
But Williams says the actual budget gap is larger.
“The way that I'm looking at it is about a $27 million plus another $7 million, which is the proposed tax increase," Williams said.
Walsh is proposing a two percent property tax increase, which translates to about $57 for a home assessed at $100,000. If approved, it would raise an estimated $6.6 million. Williams says that, plus the draw on reserves, doesn’t bode well for the city’s long-term financial picture.
“The numbers appear to be getting bigger and bigger each year. There's going to come a point that we can't continue to draw from our fund balance at the rate that we're going to," Williams said. "I, like many others, am concerned with the fiscal situation and what we're going to be faced with changes in Washington and changes in Albany.”
Walsh defends his plan, saying the nearly #120 million fund balance is double what it was when he took office. Even with the proposed draw, he says it’ll be $35 million above the recommended level. Councilors have until May 8th to approve a spending plan.
