Onondaga County Legislature Approves 2011 Budget

Onondaga County Legislature Approves 2011 Budget Plan

Over 45 million dollars made in cuts

By Kit Rodophele (NCC News)

Oct. 13, 2010, 4: p.m.

SYRACUSE, N.Y.- The Onondaga County Legislature passed the budget plan for next year by a vote of 15 to 3.

In an effort to prevent tax hikes on property owners, the Onondaga County Legislature made over 45.5 million dollars in cuts to the Onondaga County Executive’s initial budget plan.

Bad News for Art Organizations

As a result of those cuts, art programs took a serious hit and will receive no further funding from the county come 2011.

Over $200,000 dollars in funding for these programs was rejected by lawmakers.

This means that next year, organizations like Syracuse Stage, Syracuse City Ballet, Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and the Syracuse Opera will have to apply for funding from either the Onondaga Civic Development Center or from a public benefit corporation called Cultural Resources Trust, in order to make up for the lost $200,000 dollars.

However, after a non-profit art program submits an application for funding to the Cultural Resources Trust, there is still the possibility that the trust may choose not to assist that group. So, the question of where the bulk of these programs will receive their funding from is still unknown.

County Legislature Robert Warner said that in order to prevent large tax increases for property owners, there was more pressure to cut the budget than there was to fund arts programs.

Warner said, “the problem with this budget is, I’m looking at a 135% property tax increase in the district that I represent and, that just can’t happen. Places like Syracuse Symphony- they’ll just have to scale back on their programs.”

A Win for the Onondaga County Sheriff's Department

In light of the budget cuts, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Department’s Air One Emergency Helicopter Program will be spared. The Legislature agreed to fund the helicopter for 6 months with the help of money raised by the newly established Air One Foundation, thereby allowing the Sheriff’s Department some time to figure out how to fund the helicopter in the future. In addition to that, the Legislature also salvaged 12 positions in the Sherriff’s office that were initially being considered for removal and only cut 17 positions that were already vacant, so no one in the department will be laid off.

The County Executive, Joanie Mahoney, has until October 20^th to either approve or veto the budget plan. If Mahoney vetoes the plan, the Onondaga County Legislature then has the option of overriding the veto with a minimum of 13 votes by October 25^th.