The city of Syracuse will see new leadership at the top of city government starting next year. A new mayor and common council president are already talking about ways the mayor’s office can work better with city lawmakers.
Mayor-elect Sharon Owens and Common Council President-elect Rita Paniagua have already started talking about how they will work together, as the first minority women ever to run city government at the same time. Paniagua said it starts with better communication between the two branches of government. She’s proposing a committee focusing on spending that includes both lawmakers and representatives from the executive branch.
"It's a financial committee so that we can get financials in real time,” Paniagua said. “We can ask questions in real time, so that we can identify revenues and how the money is being allocated in real time. So I think that will be very important and that will ease a lot of the friction that may exist right now."
Owens agrees, noting a group like that needs to begin work as soon as possible, because budget planning will begin soon after she takes office January 1. She said finding common ground early will make a difference when budget votes come in the spring.
“And let's start that before we present something to the council,” Owens said. “Let's have a conversation before that.”
Paniagua also wants to create a committee to address IT issues.
“It is very important to create a new committee for council that will embrace the IT,” Paniagua said. “In council right now, none of us are IT experts. So maybe in that seat that we will appoint, maybe it would be a smart idea to bring somebody in that has those kinds of skills.”
This collaborative view comes after lawmakers and the Walsh administration were not on the same page when it came to spending this year, leading to some cuts in programs.
