A photograph from the Syracuse City Council Chambers showing the council members reviewing documents during an open session.
Councilors sit in the Common Council chambers in City Hall. Credit: Maddi Jane Brown | Central Current

Syracuse lawmakers plan to cut about $16 million from Mayor Ben Walsh’s proposed budget.

But a report commissioned by lawmakers that helped them determine the cuts will remain hidden from the public until at least Tuesday — days after the council will approve its own amended budget. 

The Common Council last month commissioned a budget analysis from The Bonadio Group with $20,750 in taxpayer funds. Councilors at the time said the analysis was meant to save taxpayers money. 

The Council recently received the report and met with representatives from The Bonadio Group to discuss its findings. 

Paul Wolf, a lawyer and the president emeritus of the New York Coalition for Open Government, said the council should immediately release the report. The coalition reviews potential open records law violations and transparency issues, and provides recommendations to the state and local governments.

“This audit should be released immediately before the Syracuse Council votes on the Mayor’s budget so the public can see the same information that has been provided to Councilmembers,” Wolf said. 

Councilors will vote Thursday on amendments they have made to the budget. Councilor Corey Williams, the chair of the Council’s Taxation and Finance Committee, said the Council’s budget amendments will remove the Walsh’s proposed 2% tax hike and an increase in water rates. 

The council plans to vote unanimously for the budget, Williams said. Walsh will then have 30 days to review the budget. If Walsh vetoes the budget, Williams believes the Council would have enough votes to override Walsh’s veto.  

The report that helped lead the Council to make these cuts will be submitted Tuesday to City Clerk Patricia McBride as an external communication, Williams said. At that point, it will be available to the public, he said. 

The analysis encouraged the Council to consider where departments are over- or under-budgeted, Williams said. The analysis outlined various “high, medium and low-priority actions” the Council could take to alter funding for the budget, Williams said.

“Until we start to increase our revenue, we have to be more mindful about where we’re spending our money,” Williams said. 

The Council has not provided the mayor’s office with the analysis nor any details of its contents, said Greg Loh, the mayor’s spokesperson. City Auditor Alex Marion, whose office is funded through the city budget, said he had yet to receive any notice of whether his budget had been changed by the council. 

Williams said the Council’s cuts include:

  • $1 million Walsh budgeted for the Syracuse Housing Strategies Corporation
  • About $5.9 million from the proposed police and fire department budgets, with the vast majority being cut from sworn services
  • About 7% for all departments other departments

The city clerk released the Council’s budget amendments at about 11 p.m. on Wednesday night. That gives the public fewer than 15 hours to review the Council’s proposed amendments. 

Just last year, City Auditor Alex Marion suggested in an audit that city lawmakers should have an extended feedback period after making amendments to the mayor’s proposed budget. 

Marion performed his own analysis of Walsh’s budget proposal. His office released its report April 23 – two weeks ahead of the Council’s Thursday budget vote. 

“This is the most secretive budget process I remember,” said Marion, who has worked in city government for about seven years. 

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Patrick McCarthy is a staff reporter at Central Current covering government and politics. A graduate of Syracuse University’s Maxwell and Newhouse Schools, McCarthy was born and raised in Syracuse and...