July 2023 Session Update
July’s Session was full of votes on the things that matter most to you: your health, your safety, and your money.
Legislators approved the latest Mortgage Tax Apportionment and it will greatly benefit the communities that comprise Onondaga County. “This is something that Onondaga County does, when many counties do not, and that is to share a significant portion of the mortgage tax with local municipalities” Leader Brian May (1st District) said on the floor.
Over $5 million dollars is being distributed. Here’s a look at the breakdown for each municipality receiving funds:
Your safety on the road as both a driver and a pedestrian are important and so, with Republicans leading the way, the Legislature approved the acceptance of $450,000 in grant funds from the Federal Highway Administration. The money will be used for the development of a Safe Streets and Roads for All Program Action Plan. Another $90,000 will be added from the Planning Department with the overall plan seeking to improve safety.
Speaking of planning, Legislators also approved the adoption of the Plan Onondaga County Comprehensive Plan. It defines a vision and goals for community success in the years ahead and includes the shared needs, goals and challenges of each of the county’s municipalities. It also facilitates a pathway to implement positive growth and change.
“We have a new plan creating strategies for our area as it begins a transformation, and the towns are all also working on updating their plans and so this plan will help to give direction to everybody so that we're all working and growing and headed in the same direction” Legislator Timothy Burtis (3rd District) shared on the floor. “I’ve been through the plan. I think it's great.”
Legislator Burtis is Chair of the Legislature’s Planning & Economic Development Committee, and Legislator Mark Olson (10th District) serves on it. “I also have personally looked at every aspect of this plan and I like the bottom-up approach in that the plan is incorporating villages and towns and giving them input so they can grow with the county and be part of the community” Legislator Olson said. “I'm glad to see that the county is part of this planning process and it’s not a top-down approach like the state is trying to do to us. So, I applaud Legislator Burtis and everybody involved in this.”
Click here to read the entire Plan Onondaga County Comprehensive Plan for yourself.
Your health is important to Legislators, and so they approved funding for a tick surveillance program at State University of New York Research Foundation.
Legislator Colleen Gunnip (4th District) says the program is “much needed in the community. The amount of tick issues have increased about 100% this year so it's much needed.”
Legislator Gunnip is Chair of the Legislature’s Health & Human Services committee, which recently talked ticks with Onondaga County Health Commissioner Dr. Kathryn Anderson. Click here to watch a portion of it.
Click here to learn more about Dr. Thangamani’s tick surveillance program.
The Legislature also approved accepting $2,750,000 in grant funds from the New York Statewide Interoperable Communications Grant Targeted Program.
“This $2.75 million dollar grant is a grant to add a redundant radio system to our system that we have currently at 911” Legislator Olson, who chairs the Public Safety committee, said on the floor. “When you think of people that speak into the radio, whether it's a portable or mobile, this is the brains behind that and we need a redundant system. We're able to get a grant to upgrade that and we'll be working with communities around Onondaga County on that redundant system.”
Onondaga County’s E-911 Commissioner Julie Corn shared some specifics recently with Public Safety committee.
“So the current master site is in Onondaga County and we’re looking to put a second one in a neighboring county and this would give us the functionality we need in case the current master site would ever go down, because we can never go down, right?” the Commissioner said. “This would give us that redundancy for the radio system and we’d get a new shelter, generator, microwave connectivity and the redundant core itself.”
Onondaga County applied for the grant alongside neighboring counties. The money will cover the entire cost of the project and police, fire and EMS agencies will all benefit. The approval of this funding is just another way the Republican Caucus of the Legislature is making your safety and well-being a priority.
Those who volunteer to keep us safe are also benefitting from a vote this month. Legislators approved amending a tax exemption approved earlier this year on property owned by an enrolled volunteer firefighter or volunteer ambulance worker residing in Onondaga County.
“As everyone knows, we passed the original resolution a few months ago, and it was a very good piece of legislation and it's definitely going to help” Legislator David Knapp (12th District) said. “However, the feedback from a lot of folks in the emergency services community was the five-year plan, while it's very good for retaining older members, 5 years is a long time to ask a new member to wait and so from a recruitment standpoint, it might not be as effective. So, a lot of local communities adopted the two-year plan version and so all we're doing is the same resolution just changing the five-year wait period to two years and I think it's a very good fix.”
Leader Brian May and Legislators Julie Abbott, David Knapp and Ken Bush Jr. joined Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon at the Marcellus Fire Department in January to announce the original property tax exemption proposal back in January.
Legislators also approved the next step in increasing the maximum income eligibility levels for the Real Property Tax sliding scale exemption for senior and disabled citizens. Onondaga County has kept pace with the exemption over the years as a way to assist senior citizens in keeping their homes. The public hearing will be August 1, 2023 at 12:55 P.M. in the Legislative Chambers in the Onondaga County Court House, just before a vote on the increased levels. The new income guidelines for the sliding scale property tax exemption program is the same for both and would be as follows:
Finally, the Republican Caucus approved an update to a local law from way back in 1990 regarding the county’s ethics rules. A few months ago, a Legislator from across the aisle brought her proposal to the full Legislature, having gotten no input from her colleagues before doing so. Legislature Chairman James Rowley (2nd District) immediately created a sub-committee to talk about the changes and decide what to keep and what to change. Two Democrats were assigned to the committee, but their attendance was sparse, at best.
“We addressed a lot of different issues and we had help from Law Department and in the end, I am happy with what we've come out with” says Legislator Burtis, who Chaired the sub-committee. “What we are doing basically is following several of the statutes that New York State passed under General Municipal Law.”
Legislator Burtis says the sub-committee discussed many things, including what elected officials should do or shouldn’t do and how they should present themselves by disclosing private and financial information. They also discussed the county’s Board of Ethics and how to make them more accessible to the public so they can take quickly care of issues that may arise.
“I think we put a lot of work in in a good faith manner and came up with a substantive product in a meaningful update to the law that obviously has existed since 1990” Legislator Cody Kelly (14th District) said on the floor, adding it was honor for him to serve alongside his colleagues on the Ethics Committee. “I think that the product that we have in front of us today ensures transparency and accountability, promotes easier access to the Board of Ethics to dispose the duties as per General Municipal Law which is the guide that we have to lay out powers and duties as well as the makeup of the board.”
Legislator Kelly says one thing that was discussed thoroughly in committee meetings was the idea of party affiliation. He says laws prohibit discrimination based on political party affiliation and so he made the point that there is no such thing as Republican ethics or Democratic ethics. The other party – not getting their way - complained about the changes and voted the law down. Still, with Republicans in control, it passed and strengthens the county’s ethics laws in ways never seen before.
“I'd like to re-emphasize the fact that I think we have a strong product here today that modernizes the Board of Ethics and allows them to do exactly what they're supposed to do without creating unnecessary government waste and without hamstringing the county's ability to staff its departments accordingly” added Legislator Kelly.