Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh has vetoed what he calls the most harmful cuts from the budget approved earlier this month by the Syracuse common council. The mayor rejected more than half of the council’s 81 amendments that slashed spending across all departments.
The council’s budget eliminated $16 million from the mayor’s original proposal. Walsh said he hopes they’ll agree to restore about $13 million, but without his original two percent property tax increase.
“The ball's back in the council's court," Walsh said Monday. "They'll now have the opportunity to review those objections and determine whether or not they want to override them. I've reached out to every council member. I've spoken with a few of them. Some have expressed a desire to compromise, some have not.”
At least six of the nine councilors are needed to override the mayor’s vetoes. Two of them are running to succeed Walsh: Acting president Pat Hogan and Councilor-at-large Chol Majok, and they are not likely to change their votes. Walsh said he focused on preventing cuts that would be most harmful to residents, mainly public safety and quality of life.
“What pains me the most is what I've heard from constituents since the council acted that have made comments about feeling like we finally got services where they needed to be, or we're headed in the right direction," Walsh said. "They fear that this is a step backwards, and I fear that it is as well, but we're going to try to mitigate the negative impacts.”
Walsh said the council’s action also limits the ability of his office and the council to ease some of the pain.
“One frustrating part about some of the amendments as they undercut our ability to generate more revenue and, when combined with the fact that the council didn't Introduce any new revenue sources or additional revenue sources, that made it really challenging.”
Another complicating factor is the draw on the city's reserves. In his original budget proposal, Walsh proposed using $27 million of the more than $120 million available. The council wants to reduce the amount to $14 million. Walsh vetoed that amendment because it would automatically trigger a tax increase to make up the difference. The charter does not allow the council or mayor to find middle ground on that amount. Walsh said the council's last-minute actions without consulting his office or department heads severely limited the ability to negotiate and compromise.
"Without that communication leading up to those amendments, it really boxed all of us in in terms of our options," Walsh said. "And if we were to have have had some of these conversations before they made those amendments, there would have been room for those negotiations."
Walsh said if the council overrides his vetoes, there’s no doubt services and jobs will be impacted when the new fiscal year begins July 1. Both sides must have an agreement in place by June 1.
