Onondaga County — The independent group studying the government within Onondaga County, Consensus, has recently released a plan that recommends consolidation of the governments of Onondaga County and the City of Syracuse with hopes to eventually put the plan to a vote. But District 10 Onondaga County Legislator Kevin Holmquist said he believes more time is needed to make such a big decision.
Consensus is comprised of a commission of community leaders who have worked together to study the efficiency of local government and to make recommendations on how the government can best serve its citizens. The initial report, released on Jan. 26, says that the Syracuse-Onondaga community is currently heading on an unsustainable path when it comes to the size of government and the increasing costs to a diminishing tax base.
Some main points to the initial report are that local governments are spending more than $100 million on redundant services and there is an opportunity to reduce government spending by nearly $20 million if services were consolidated at the county, city, town and village levels. Services to be considered for consolidation include: street and highway maintenance; water and wastewater infrastructure; solid waste collection; parks departments; fire, EMS and police protection; correctional facilities; and municipal operations such as libraries, financial administration, courts, social services, clerks, code enforcement and tax assessment.
Feedback from the public on the initial report and recommendations of Consensus will go until March 16, but Holmquist, a Republican Onondaga County Legislator that covers a district in the town of Manlius, believes more time is needed for the public to consider consolidation.
“This is one of the biggest things to happen that will dramatically affect our local governments,” said Holmquist. “If the public feels like they are shut out of the process, it won’t be successful and I believe they should extend the feedback period.”
continued — Holmquist has served on the county legislature for 10 years, but served on the Manlius Village Board and the Manlius Town Board for a total of 15 years before moving to the county level. Holmquist compared the process of consolidation of government and services to when he was on the Manlius Town Board and they voted to create a town-wide garbage district.
“This whole process [garbage district] from start to finish took over a year,” said Holmquist. “The public was very much involved and I think that’s why it was successful … This is what needs to be considered for Consensus. We need more time to give feedback.”
The initial Consensus report can be found at cgr.org/consensuscny/ or by going to your local library. The final report from Consensus is expected to be released in April 2016.
Feedback for the initial Consensus report is being accepted until March 16, and can be done by commenting on the Facebook page “ConsensusCNY,” calling 470-1980, emailing [email protected] or writing to Consensus c/o SYRACUSE 20/20, 120 Madison St., 15th Floor, Syracuse, NY 13202.
Local leaders say they are making plans to bring public information meetings with representatives from Consensus sometime during the next few weeks.