Syracuse Common Councilors have started digging into Mayor Ben Walsh’s proposed 2025-26 budget, a $348 million plan that asks taxpayers to help reduce a budget deficit of $27 million.
The challenge, according to Walsh, is stagnating state aid and sales tax revenue, forcing the city to ask for the 2% property tax hike.
“Our largest two revenue sources are flat, and the third largest revenue source is property tax, and that's where we have the ability to make changes, and we are proposing some,” Walsh said.
The tax increase is expected to help fill a budget deficit impacted by rising expenses that include increases in retirement, medical insurance, salaries and wages.
“For somebody who has a house assessed at $100,000, that's a little over $50 extra in property taxes they're paying a year,” said Walsh. “If you're looking at a $200,000 house, it's a little over $100 extra per year. Again, it's all relative, but we think that that's a relatively small amount when compared to what it helps us provide in terms of services that our constituents expect.”
Walsh also wants to use $27 million from the city’s savings account to cover the deficit.
"The good news is we have $120 million in our fund balance, which is more than double what I inherited when I came into office in 2018,” said Walsh. “So that's why it's there, it's for budgets like this, where we do have challenges. But it's not sustainable. We can't continue to run these types of deficits."
While city spending would rise only 2% in this proposal, there are some new spending initiatives. Walsh wants to reopen a fire station near downtown, and spend $1 million for a housing program. There is also an emphasis in spending on public safety and infrastructure.
Syracuse lawmakers will spend the next few weeks going through the plan line by line, with a final vote expected in early May.
