A tax cut and continued initiatives to help youth are the cornerstone of Onondaga County Ryan McMahon’s proposed budget for 2023.
McMahon started off his budget presentation to county lawmakers Thursday with what he said is the largest tax cut in the last decade, perhaps longer than that.
"An 11% cut in the property tax rate from the current rate of $4.79 per thousand, to $4.26 per thousand,” McMahon said. “This equals over a $100 savings on a home assessed at $200,000."
McMahon said sound fiscal management allows the county to do that while maintaining and increasing other programs. Included in that, are $5 million to help build a new youth center on Syracuse’s south side, $2 million for a new recreational and educational center in Nedrow, $5 million for lead abatement, including the creation of a mobile testing van to get lead samples from children, and $5.5 million to continue mental health services at schools, which started during the pandemic.
Another initiative would spend $500,000 to look at the economic and land use impact of the process to tear down the elevated portion of I-81 that runs through downtown Syracuse and route through traffic to what is now I-481.
"You’re changing the way vital infrastructure works right? And it’s going to have an impact,” he said. ”We don’t know, so hopefully this will give us a clear signal.”
There is also money for new police officers, improvements to senior centers and projects to improve parks and waterfronts
"It’s finding balance, right, and because we are in the condition we’re in, we can cut taxes and still make these investments,” he said.
County lawmakers will begin to pour over the numbers Monday. Minority leader Chris Ryan said Democrats look forward to working with McMahon on the budget.
"I think our caucus is definitely going to be in favor of many of these initiatives, especially for children,” said Ryan. “It’s like every year, the devil’s in the details, but we’ll figure it out. But we look forward to getting to work."
The legislature is scheduled to vote on the $1.4 billion spending plan on October 11.
