McMahon’s county budget: Flat taxes, more diversity, sewer consolidation

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon today proposed a 2020 budget that keeps taxes flat and includes new initiatives including consolidation of local sewer systems and increased minority hiring.

McMahon’s proposed $1.336 billion budget raises spending by just under 1 percent. It would decrease the county tax rate from $5.04 to $5.00 per $1,000, a historic low.

But that doesn’t mean the county will collect less property tax. Assessments are up 4.2 percent from last year, creating a bigger tax base, McMahon said.

The county executive proposed a small increase of $10 a year to the household sewer charge and predicted that similar increases would come in future years as the county struggles to plug leaking infrastructure.

Several of McMahon’s new initiatives targeted children.

He proposed establishing a new county-run foster home for teens. He also proposed a $1.5 million grant to the Early Childhood Alliance to help promote kindergarten readiness.

Only about 38 percent of children in Onondaga County are prepared to start school when they enter kindergarten, judging from test scores on the state 3rd-grade reading assessments, said Laurie Black, director of the Early Childhood Alliance. The group will use the county money to support programs for parents and child care centers that prepare kids for school, she said.

McMahon also proposed the creation of a new county department, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. It would consolidate county operations related to minority hiring, MWBE compliance and human rights, he said. McMahon said he plans to appoint a chief diversity officer to head the unit.

The county has a goal of staffing at least 22 percent of county jobs with minority workers by 2022, McMahon said.

McMahon’s budget does not anticipate using any of the county’s fund balance, a rainy day cash reserve. County officials expect to end 2019 with a $6.6 million surplus, he said.

McMahon said he is working on the first phase of a county takeover of all sewer infrastructure, much of which is currently owned by municipalities. The consolidation would allow county officials to fix aging, leaky pipes that feed into the county sewer system and cause overflows.

The first step is a proposal for the county to assume control of local sewers in the towns of Manlius and Pompey and the villages of Fayetteville and Manlius. Those sewers feed the Meadowbrook-Limestone sewage treatment plant, where the county is under orders from the state to reduce sewage spills. The county this year bonded for $9 million to pay for the necessary repairs.

County officials also are talking with the town of DeWitt and the city of Syracuse about taking control of sewers that feed the Meadowbrook-Limestone plant. McMahon’s plan is to continue step by step through the county’s six sewage areas to consolidate all the sewers under county control.

His budget proposes $1 million for repairs outside the Meadowbrook-Limestone district to prevent water from leaking into the sewer system.

McMahon’s budget includes $350,000 for cybersecurity to help prevent ransomware attacks like the one that recently hit the county libraries and the city school district. The money would pay for software to protect against email attachments that introduce malware into the computer network, McMahon said.

The budget includes $254,000 in new funding for municipal senior centers.

McMahon, a Republican who is running for election in November, spent much of his 25-minute speech recapping his first 10 months in office. He touted accomplishments ranging from the sales tax agreement he negotiated with the city of Syracuse to the plans for a new mega-warehouse in Clay that could employ 1,000 people.

McMahon’s opponent, Democrat Tony Malavenda, was in the audience. He said he would study the budget details before commenting on them, but noted that the speech gave McMahon a platform to tout his work.

“I thought it was a good election commercial,’’ he said.

McMahon said the county’s fiscal health is improving. The fund balance is adequately funded and will likely grow again next year. The county’s fiscal stress score, as calculated by the state comptroller, improved this year “due to strong management, investment and fund balance growth,’’ McMahon said.

The county legislature has scheduled a series of meetings on the budget. Legislators are scheduled to vote on the budget Oct. 8.

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