OFFICE OF THE MAYOR Stephanie A. Miner, Mayor September 8, 2017 Hon. Joanne M. Mahoney ‘Onondaga County Executive John H. Mulroy Civic Center, 14" Floor 421 Montgomery Street Syracuse, NY 13202 Re: County-Wide Shared Services Plan (Version 1.2) Dear County Executive Mahoney: In accordance with Chapter 59, Section 4 (d) Part BBB of the Laws of 2017, I hereby exercise my right, on behalf of the citizens of the City of Syracuse, to remove from the Shared Services Plan those items, as set forth below, that are not in the best interest of the City. The Shared Services consultation process has been a thoughtful, productive review of how local governments provide services to the different regions of Onondaga County. As you know, Onondaga County is fortunate to have a wide variety of people, industry, and geography. Therefore, out of necessity, local governments provide a variety of services tailored to local needs whether they are urban, suburban, or rural, Since taking office in 2010, | have been engaged in a continuous process of streamlining and improving City government both out of the necessity of dealing with the aftershocks of the 2008 financial crisis and to implement my vision of how a 21" century municipal government should operate. The goal throughout my tenure has been to find the best way to deliver cost effective services to our citizens while maintaining all that is unique about living in the great City of Syracuse with its long tradition of industry, education and community. To that end the City has already, long before Shared Services became fashionable, cooperated with the County on the following intermunicipal projects: 1. City-County Purchasing combination 2. City-County Green Infrastructure projects 3. City-County joint fuel sharing agreement 203 CITY HALL + SYRACUSE, N.Y. 13202-1473 + (315) 448-8005 + FAX: (315) 448-8067 ‘Website: www.SyrGov.netCity creation of the Syracuse Regional Airport Authority City-County joint Mail Department City-County joint road salt purchasing, Syracuse Onondaga County Planning Agency In January 2015 the City took advantage of the new Medicare option for retirees to contract with Humana to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in retiree health care costs. The City of Syracuse as you know has been cooperating this summer with Onondaga County and the Syracuse City Schoo! District to RFP these retirement health services in a joint process that will save all three municipal entities a significant amount of taxpayer money. Therefore in terms of my review of the Shared Services Plan Version 1.1 the City fully supports proposal #17065 (Employee Benefits) as it continues and builds upon the efforts the City began in 2015 with Humana Unfortunately the City cannot support the following proposals and pursuant to Chapter 59, Section 4 (d), hereby request that they be removed from any further consideration by the Shared Services Panel: 1. #17030 (Community Development) the relatively small cost savings ($60,000) are not enough to justify the loss to city residents of a unit of city government dedicated to addressing the unique urban needs of the City of Syracuse. The people and the non-profit agencies who serve them. need a direct connection between their City government and the challenges that need to be addressed. This is especially the case when it comes to obtaining and using federal community development block grant funds. CBDG funds are vitally important for addressing City residents’ needs which are quite different from suburban needs. The benefit of maximizing CBDG funding goes far beyond the anticipated cost savings identified in this proposal. In fact the County's, takeover of the Lead Abatement Program has not resulted in any demonstrated improvement in serving City residents. In addition, Federal statute requires CDBG funds be used within the receiving municipal boundaries. #117052 (Economic Development) as there are no projected costs savings itis premature to pursue this option at this time. In addition, itis clear that the City and the County do not share the same goals when it comes to providing incentives for economic development. The City believes that it isa privilege, granted in return for specific benefits that accrue to City residents, for a business or developer to receive tax incentives. Whereas the County appears to believe that any business with a plan is entitled to receive a tax incentive as a matter of right. This is exemplified by the Destiny Hotel project, among others, granted when it was obvious that hotels and inns were being constructed in the region due to favorable conditions with no incentives needed. The result may be overcapacity with negative economic consequences in the future. 3, #17082 (Parks and Recreation) as the projected cost savings is not specific enough and past commitments by the County to assist have not been enacted. Specifically the County did not follow up on several commitments to provide security for Burnet Park. Based upon this, disappointing record of failure the City cannot afford to lose control over a service that is vital toensuring that youth programs proceed on schedule. For example, uncut grass can result in fields not being available for scheduled games/programing and can expose children to a greater risk of tick and other insect bites, clearly a public health issue these days. 4, #17120 (Street & Highway Maintenance) as there are no projected costs savings it is premature to pursue this option at this time. The lack of cost identifiable savings is a serious issue for city residents as noted in past public hearings. illusory, vague, and speculative cost savings create a false sense of expectation among the public that their property taxes will decrease significantly. City residents believe and have stated that if their taxes are paying for certain equipment it should not be routinely loaned out to other municipalities at no cost. 5. #17150 (Streets, Police, DPW etc.) The City of Syracuse has been entering into Intermunicipal agreements with the County, the Syracuse City School District, and the Syracuse Housing Authority for over a decade. As the City DPW facility at Canal Street is centrally located and convenient to all municipalities within a certain radius of the City, it would not make sense for the City to join a County wide facility at a different location | appreciate my fellow elected official's time and effort as we all responded quickly to accommodate the tight schedule enacted by the State and although not all these proposals are ready to be implemented in 2018, we have certainly laid the groundwork for future cooperative efforts which will result in improved cost effective focal government services.Notice to Onondaga County Executive Stephanie A. Miner Mayor sf . in my capacity as the of the (Name) (Elected Office) City Syracuse of , hereby give notice to the Onondaga County Executive of (City Town] Village) (Municipality) my decision to cause the following proposed action(s) that affects the local government I represent to be removed from the County-wide Shared Services Plan prior to the panel-wide vote. ss Plan version 1.2) Proposal # Description (as set forth in Shared Servi 17030 sTSveaes once enogurces Dscpnan. hangh mw sient a carole cornea oens ‘Five ssc eda ot aud cat Reason boars Got hgecs em Combine the City and County economic davelopmant ofoes and create a new oe City-County Industrial Development Agency, o create one professional, fully accountable and iransparent economic dovelopmant agony. 47120 ‘Onondaga County is proposing that all municipal ents within Onondaga County Center into an intertunicipal Agreement for equipment sharing. The agrooment would list all avalable equipment by owner that could be proved to other entities for use, 47150 ‘Onondaga County is proposing the creation of a County Wide Fleet-Fuel Card Fueling at authorized reall locations or existing municipal fueling facies would void the cost of obalning one of is awn,