Salina — As nearly 90 citizens sauntered into the Salina Town Hall on Feb. 9 to hear about a proposed merger between Onondaga County and the city of Syracuse, you could’ve cut the cynicism with a knife.
After Consensus committee members Mark Nicotra and Darlene Kerr took an hour to outline the preliminary reports made by the 19-member commission on local government modernization, they asked for feedback. They got plenty of it — loud and clear.
Liverpool Deputy Mayor Nick Kochan thoughtfully suggested that localities that had done a good job of providing services should be compensated with rewards and incentives.
Then all heck broke loose.
Tony Chillemi, a resident of the Irongate community in town of Clay, stood up to speak and before long he was leading an angry chorus of dissenters.
“Philosophically, what are we really talking about here?” he asked rhetorically. “Big government…I didn’t see anything here about my taxes going down.”
Then Chillemi, who had been seated near the front of the room, turned toward the crowd. “Did you hear anything about lower taxes?”
“No,” many voices responded.
“Did you hear anything about responsive government officials?”
“No.”
“Did you hear anything about having access to people in government?”
“No.”
Chillemi also drew a negative response from Consensus representative Darlene Kerr, when he suggested that the committee’s real intention is “bailing out the city of Syracuse.”
“Definitely not,” Kerr exclaimed.
“If this thing goes through,” Chillemi continued, “I guarantee you our taxes will go up and access [to government] will go down.” That statement drew a rousing cheer.
Several of the 20 or so speakers complained about tax breaks given to Pyramid Cos.’ Destiny shopping mall and proposed for Inner Harbor development.
One bemoaned the high number of tax-exempt properties in the city of Syracuse, and Kerr agreed that nonprofit churches and educational institutions pay no taxes. “And I, for one, consider that a problem,” Kerr said.
continued — A businessman from the town of Clay said that Consensus “is looking at the wrong stuff. The elephant in the room are the schools,” he said. “Fifty percent of my taxes go to the school district while the towns and villages get maybe 13 or 15 percent. You’re stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.”
The commission’s Preliminary Baseline Review released last year noted that Onondaga County has 19 towns, 15 villages and 20 fire districts with taxing powers, along with 26 separate school districts serving portions of the county, all but one of which impacts property tax bills. Syracuse City School District does not have its own taxing authority but relies upon the city’s property tax levy.
“We’re hoping that someone will take on the schools next,” Nicotra said.