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Syracuse City Auditor Alexander Marion released a letter Friday, co-signed by over 30 community leaders, urging Mayor Ben Walsh to veto the Common Council’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget amendments regarding city housing issues.

The letter highlights the council’s cuts to Code Enforcement, cuts to the Law Department’s outside counsel budget and reduced positions in the Department of Neighborhood and Business Development, asking Walsh to veto these aspects of the revised budget.

“A good budget puts the community first,” Marion wrote in a Friday release. “When our community’s biggest needs are protecting neighbors in their homes, holding problem property owners accountable, and creating faster ways to build new housing, it’s not an appropriate time to cut the programs designed to achieve those outcomes.”

The letter is signed by Marion, 15th District Onondaga County Legislator Maurice Brown, Central New York Fair Housing Executive Director Sally Santangelo and Families for Lead Freedom Now Co-Chair Oceanna Fair, among 35 others.

Marion’s letter follows an ongoing disagreement surrounding the FY 2026 budget. On May 8, the council unanimously rejected Walsh’s $348 million budget after seeking independent recommendations and analysis from an outside accounting firm. The council said Walsh’s budget would’ve resulted in a $27 million deficit.

The council’s revisions — which it said would not reduce Syracuse Fire Department or Syracuse Police Department staff and did not include a property tax increase or water fee — reduced the deficit by over $15 million.

The proposed budget increased by $7.4 million from last year’s, raising community concerns about the efficiency of the city’s spending.

Marion wrote that reducing funding to Code Enforcement and eliminating funding for third-party plan reviewers who examine construction projects for zoning law and building code compliance would hurt the city’s ability to build more housing efficiently.

He argued that the council’s revised budget reduces support for Syracuse’s “most vulnerable neighbors” as the city navigates an ongoing housing crisis.

“We do not have an adequate housing supply for our current, let alone future, population and the housing we currently have is too often of low quality,” Marion wrote in the letter. “Our tenants and homeowners deserve better.”

The proposed cuts to the Law Department’s outside counsel will impact the ability to address complex litigation matters impacting the city, Marion wrote. He said the outside counsel gives the city’s attorneys more time for proactive work against “slumlords.” The department has led to successful lawsuits against the owners of the Nob Hill apartments, among others, Marion wrote.

He also wrote that reducing positions in the Department of Neighborhood and Business Development that deal with housing would limit the city’s ability to directly address housing issues, such as preserving and expanding the availability of quality and affordable housing.

In a May 8 press conference following the council’s vote, Walsh disagreed with the council’s budget revisions and said the amendments leave no room for potential changes in state or federal funding.

“I am gravely concerned for the taxpayers, for our constituents,” Walsh said in the conference. “These cuts, contained in the council’s amendments, are draconian and they’re dangerous. The council claims they’re not making specific cuts and it’s ultimately up to us, but that’s simply not true.”

He said the council’s revised budget includes a $1.4 million cut to the Syracuse City School District’s budget, a $3.7 million cut to public works, including roads, sidewalks and infrastructure, and a $6 million cut to SPD and SFD, echoing Marion’s concerns.

Walsh has until Monday to veto or pass the council’s budget, which the council needs six out of nine votes to override.

Published on May 16, 2025 at 7:35 pm
Contact Delia: dsrangel@syr.edu