The Syracuse Common Council voted Monday to analyze Mayor Ben Walsh’s final budget proposal, which includes a $27 million structural deficit and a 2% property tax hike.
City taxpayers will pay $20,750 for a 30-day budget analysis performed by the Bonadio Group. A division of Bonadio Group is currently auditing the city’s payroll modernization effort and the departments that oversee that project.
Councilor Corey Williams emphasized in the council’s Monday study session that the council was approving a budgetary analysis. The purpose, Williams said, was to provide councilors with an expert breakdown of the budget, which he called a “comprehensive budget evaluation.”
“We get given a 150-page document with $350 million worth of spending, and we have to act on that document within a four-week period,” Williams said. “None of us are CPAs, none of us are professional accountants, and in order to try to save the taxpayers money, and to do so in a respectable manner, we thought we needed a little bit of help from an outside agency.”
The report will focus on revenue, expenses and the city’s use of its fund balance, according to a contract provided by Bonadio to the city. The document does not set a date by which the review has to be completed. Walsh stated in his budget proposal last Wednesday that the council has until May 8 to act on a final budget.
City Auditor Alex Marion also plans to present an analysis of the budget.
Councilors’ plans for an audit come as two are running for mayor. Councilor Pat Hogan and Councilor Chol Majok are running against Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens in the Democratic primary. Walsh is finishing his second term as mayor.
The analysis of the mayor’s budget proposal comes amid an audit into the city’s stumbling modernization of its payroll systems. The Council approved a two-month contract with Bonadio Group to audit that project in January.
Councilor Amir Gethers said the payroll modernization snafu played a large part in prompting the council to seek a budget analysis.
“When it comes to anything in regards to the budget, and we have ten million missing, we’re definitely looking to see what exactly is going on,” Gethers said.
The city has maintained that it did not waste $10 million on payroll modernization and they are still working on the project, city spokesman Greg Loh said.
Gethers criticized the tax increase, which would be the fourth 2% tax hike during Walsh’s tenure. He argued residents can’t afford another tax increase.
Councilor Marty Nave — Nave and Gethers have publicly campaigned with Hogan — said the city should not be raising taxes or dipping into the reserve fund during an election year.
Nave objected to the Mayor’s proposal which requires taking $27 million from that fund.
Citing the hefty price tag on the city’s payroll modernization project, Nave accused the city of wasting taxpayer money in the past.
“We cannot afford more taxes. We forget the middle class sometimes,” Nave said. “So it’s our job to really dissect this, this budget, though.”
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