Onondaga County

Funds ON HOME Housing Corporation with $25 Million, Passes Resolutions for Agricultural Programs

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Onondaga County Legislature has transmitted the 2027 County Budget to the Office of the County Executive. The Legislature, this month, voted 17-0 to adopt the $1.7 billion spending plan built from shared priorities named by the Legislature and the County Executive over the past year. The Legislature’s critical review of the budget included more than 30 department presentations across 18 meetings and 22 hours of deliberation. The County Executive has until Oct. 20 to act on the budget.

Measures for Accountability

The Legislature is holding about $3 million in the 2027 budget in spending contingency to ensure departments and programs are transparent about spending. Contingency means the funds will remain in the budget; their availability will be held until conditions are met, in this instance, spending and program details.

Programs in contingency are:

• $2,000,000 for the Gen Z Down Payment Assistance Program through Home HeadQuarters
• $250,000 for the Local Farm & Food Security pilot with an additional $100,000 added from floor amendments
• $420,000 for the Water Environment Protection federal lobbying contract
• $312,500 for Honeywell consent decree capital projects

Leg. Maurice Brown, Chair of the Ways & Means Committee, said, “Where we got clear answers, we funded it. Where we didn’t get clear answers, we are holding it because that’s the right thing to do…this isn’t a perfect budget. It’s not the Executive’s budget nor is it the Legislature’s budget; it’s the People’s budget. It invests in people today and in their future, responsibility.”

Minority Leader Brian May said, “What’s great always at the end of this process is that this body puts its fingerprints on a budget that’s proposed to us. It was a good budget that was proposed to us and by and large made better in enough ways that everyone here is going to support it…” He continued, “I’m proud that this budget specifically addresses needs both strategic and otherwise across County government and across our community.”  

May commended the Legislature for keeping the property levy flat and the property tax rate decrease at 9% after all appropriations and amendments.

2027 Budget Priorities

When released, the Executive Budget, according to County Executive McMahon, established that the county is in a strong economic position despite an increase in utility costs and healthcare premiums.

The adopted budget totals $1,698,922,068, with a net tax levy of $147,000,000. That levy includes $10,472,000 for Onondaga Community College and $136,528,000 for other county purposes. The rate for City of Syracuse property owners is $9.97 per $1,000 of assessed value. The budget also lowers the tax rate through a 9.1% tax cut.

ON HOME and Plan Onondaga Phase II

The Legislature approved a local law, sponsored by Chairwoman Watts, creating the Onondaga County Housing Opportunity & Momentum Expansion Corporation (ON HOME). The corporation is a local development corporation set to finance home improvement, neighborhood homeownership, and mixed-income development often referred to as “the missing middle” in housing programs.

The Legislature’s Housing + Transportation Citizen Advisory Board, which hosted a six-month community engagement series speaking with experts, residents, and municipal leaders on ways to improve housing and transportation across the county, made recommendations to County leaders on the need for this kind of housing, emphasizing that it offers affordability and a wider spectrum of housing options for smaller families, aging adults looking to downsize, and middle-income workers.

Chief among the recommendations was a need to fund and accelerate “middle” development housing.

Legislators, the same day, received the County Executive’s surplus resolution to amend the budget $25M to fund ON HOME along with companion initiatives totaling $10 million in appropriations from the General Fund balance which make up implementation for Plan Onondaga Phase II:  

• $25 million for ON HOME housing development and neighborhood revitalization
• $7 million for the semiconductor supply chain
• $1.5 million for Main Street programs
• $1.5 million for low-interest agricultural loans

Through floor debates, concerns regarding the timing of the resolution’s introduction were addressed by agreeing to include regular reporting measures for the development corporation and transparency in the LDC’s programs. 

The Corporation will consist of nine (9) voting directors; three (3) appointed by the Legislature and six (6) appointed by the County Executive, with four of those appointments subject to confirmation by the County Legislature.

Legislature Chairwoman Nicole Watts said, “I believe it’s absolutely crucial for us to be passing this in conjunction with our 2027 budget because housing is an absolute priority. We need to invest meaningfully into it. This [resolution] is seeking to address that need and we do not want to kick that ball any further down the road. It needs to happen yesterday. It needed to happen three years ago and there’s an urgency to this which is why we are considering it today in this manner.”

Legislator Elaine Denton (District 10) said, “I just want to say this is big. To invest $25 million in housing and to build the missing middle housing and renovate our current housing. This is a need, a really critical need.”

The resolution for the surplus funding passed near unanimously.

The County Executive, in a press release, referenced the approval of the surplus budget resolution as “a major step forward for Onondaga County’s continued growth,” citing that the funds will expand housing options, strengthen the semiconductor supply chain, and support small businesses and farmers.

Other Legislature priorities made through the Ways & Means Committee, and budget amendments include:

• Child welfare caseworkers: Six caseworkers for the Department of Children and Family Services to reduce caseloads, keep experienced workers and reach families earlier.
• Overdose response: Two peer specialists and a case manager, so the Health Department’s program covers more hours and more of the county.
• Food security: A Department of Social Services coordinator to oversee the county’s food security investments, and $250,000 for the Agriculture Council for the Syracuse Onondaga Food Systems Alliance.
• Sheriff’s vehicles: An additional $500,000 for Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicles, for $750,000 total.

• Amendment A (Leg. Knapp, District 12): $250,000 for the SHAPE UP program, a home repair program administered by Community Development. Eligible homeowners are 62 and older or disabled and can apply for help to cover the costs of necessary home repairs.  
• Amendment B (Leg. McCarron, District 11): $100,000 in contingency for Farm and Food Security Pilot Program to connect local farms with area food pantries to benefit the agricultural community and support food insecurity.
• Amendment C (Leg. Brown): Adjustments to interdepartmental charges across departments, including a $500,000 decrease in Law Department revenue. This appropriation enables the previous floor amendments.

In addition, Executive budget initiatives also focused on investing in people and community needs such as $250,000 in Senior Center grants, new funding for tick surveillance and education, an academic health collaboration with SUNY Upstate Medical University, and $3 million set aside for future county water system improvements.

Chairwoman Watts said, “The County Executive and this Legislature built [this budget] together, and our review made it stronger. It puts more caseworkers in the field for children and families, lowers the tax rate, and gives us ON HOME, a new tool to build housing working families can afford. We didn’t just create ON HOME today. We funded it, so it can get to work right away.”

The County Executive has the budget until Oct 20. to veto any amendments or new spending in the budget.