After a 5-4 vote that came with heated debate, the Syracuse Common Council approved a tax increase that will cost city residents less than $1 in county taxes for the upcoming fiscal year.

The council will use the approximately $260,000 in tax revenue — 97 cents from each tax-paying city resident — to fund repairs of elevators in the downtown Public Safety Building that District 1 Republican Councilor Matt Rayo said are in a ‘sad state.’

‘Everyone agreed the elevators needed to be fixed,’ Rayo said.

Despite the agreement, debate arose about how to allocate funds for the project. Rayo, fellow Republican Ryan McMahon and two other democratic councilors eventually voted against the bill. They opposed any form of taxation, instead preferring to shift funds in the city budget to pay for the elevator repairs.

Four other councilors in favor of the bill proposed adding the small amount to the 2012 city-county abstract, which city taxpayers fund to pay for county-owned buildings within Syracuse each year. With the passage of the bill, the tax increase will be added to the abstract for one year.

The total cost to repair the elevators is estimated to be $426,000, according to the March 28 Common Council agenda. Under the resolution, the city will pay 61 percent — about $260,000 — of the total repair costs for the elevators from the gained tax revenue, according to the March 28 Common Council agenda.

Council President Van Robinson had to break a 4-4 tie in the vote to pass the bill. The Common Council president can only vote in the event of a tie. Councilor-at-Large Democrat Pamela Hunter was not present at the meeting. The vote was Robinson’s first as council president.

For councilors like Democratic Majority Leader Kathleen Joy, this bill was a ‘creative way’ to finance the much-needed repairs to elevators. That, combined with the fact that the tax will only be on the abstract for one year, pushed her to support the measure.

‘It was a way to finance it without bonding or mortgaging or taking money out,’ Joy said. ‘I thought it was a good idea. It was a creative way to finance a big-ticket item like this for a building that’s used by both county and city residents.’

The issue fell under Rayo’s jurisdiction, as he is chair of the Intergovernmental Services Consolidation Committee on the Common Council. He said he was reluctant to add any tax increase to city residents.

‘I was hoping the city would be able to find somewhere else in the budget to be able to pay for it, instead of raising what obviously is only a very small tax,’ Rayo said.

The city pays more than $1 million per year, or 61 percent, toward the upkeep of the Public Safety Building, according to the March 28 Common Council agenda.

Along with Joy and Robinson, who broke the tie, Democrats Pat Hogan, Tom Seals and Nader Maroun voted to support the method.

Democrats Lance Denno and Jean Kessner joined Rayo and McMahon to oppose the bill.

Rayo said he thinks the Common Council will be more willing to add onto the abstract — in both small and large amounts — because of this decision.

McMahon also called it a ‘terrible precedent to set.’

‘In the grand scheme of things, all we’re doing is making this community more and more expensive to live in,’ he said.

Denno said he voted against the measure because it came after the biggest tax increase in the city’s history — a 6 percent increase in property taxes in this year’s budget. Rayo said he, McMahon and Denno all voted against that measure as well.

The 97-cent tax increase to repair the elevators was on the council’s agenda for just two weeks. Joy said she has been in the Public Safety Building’s elevators ‘many, many times.’ From her personal experience, combined with opinions she heard from experts, Joy said she felt relieved when Robinson cast the deciding vote and when the measure was resolved rather swiftly.

‘I’ve never been stuck in the elevator,’ Joy said. ‘But when the experts tell me it’s dangerous, I believe them. The city is not in a financial position to spend money where it’s not needed. If you’re telling me it was necessary, I believe it.’

bplogiur@syr.edu

Published on April 6, 2011 at 12:00 pm