The City of Syracuse will end up with a balanced budget this year, thanks to some unexpected money included in the recently passed state budget.
Included in the $268 billion spending plan out of Albany is an extra $20 million for Syracuse, thanks to a $135 million fund earmarked for distressed cities across the state. The city of Buffalo will receive $55 million, Albany and Yonkers will get $40 million, and Rochester, like Syracuse, will get an additional $20 million.
Syracuse Mayor Sharon Owens said the extra money covers the deficit that was part of the city’s $350 million budget, passed last month.
"We know we have a $20 million gap, so we insert it within the budget to resolve the gap," Owens said. "We always are looking, so we'll look like halfway into the program year, the fiscal year to see how our spending is going. To see if we need to apply the whole thing or not."
Owens said while is happy for the windfall, it doesn’t erase the fact that the same issues that caused a deficit this year will still be around next year.
"I'm already thinking about next year, and fuel costs and utility costs continue to go up," she said. "We're negotiating contracts right now, that's an additional cost. Healthcare keeps going up. So the priority for us now is to get around the table and start talking about our budget overall, year after year after year."
The city originally planned to use $20 million from its reserves to cover the budget gap. Owens said now this gives the city a little breathing room.
"So what is most important to me is that $20 million gets us time to start this process to look at our budget, our revenues versus expenses."
