About the Legislature
Co-Equal Branch of County Government:
The County Legislature is a co-equal branch of government along with the County Executive’s Office and the various County Courts. The Legislature acts as a check and balance on the other branches of government and the Legislature is charged with crafting new legislation as well as control over nearly all fiscal matters within the County.
The County Charter:
The County Charter is the document that sets forth the rules and regulations under which the various agencies and branches of County government function and interact. The Charter is the equivalent of the State or Federal Constitution in that it sets a framework for how County government will function.
Budget:
The County Legislature is charged with review, revision and passage of an annual County budget. This is the most significant work the Legislature does each year as the annual budget dictates each how nearly every penny is spent by each County department. The budget sets spending caps, contingency accounts, bonding, borrowing, operating account and capital projects
Updates
August, 2011
Road Construction/Improvement Projects. The Legislature approved road reconstruction and improvement projects totaling $9,400,000. The projects are funded via County and Federal budget resources. These projects will insure our County roads are properly maintained, paved and re-paved as necessary to keep them in safe driving conditions.
Storm Water Control Projects. The Legislature voted to act as lead agency under the State Environmental Quality Review Act for two projects intended to insure Onondaga County complies with Federal Court directives to improve its storm water control systems to prevent storm and sewer water infiltration. The two projects under this resolution (War Memorial Water Reuse Project and Harbor Brook project) will help the County to comply with Court mandates and improve our local environment by utilizing green technologies and science to insure Onondaga Lake and its tributaries are not subject to pollution.
July, 2011
OCC Budget. The Legislature approved an increase of $350,000 in funding for the Onondaga Community College’s operating budget for the next fiscal year. The funding had remained flat for the past three years. This increase will allow the College to operate its new academic buildings, undertake necessary facility maintenance and keep tuition low for our local students attending OCC.
OCC Dormitory Construction. The Legislature approved a resolution to allow Onondaga Community College to lease seven acres of land owned by Onondaga County at the corner of Velasko Road and Route 173 (for $1.00) to allow the college to completely rehabilitate an old, decaying County building for use as a new dormitory facility for OCC students. This is a wonderful use of this property that had been abandoned and unused for decades.
June, 2011
Consolidation/Shared Services. The Legislature voted to approve funding to allow villages, towns and fire districts to explore consolidation and shared services agreement. Such studies are the first steps to analyze the cost savings from consolidation and the means to accomplish and finalize consolidation efforts.
Off Track Betting. The Legislature voted to reject off track betting facilities in Onondaga County. The measure had come before the Legislature on numerous occasions during the past decade and had been rejected on each occasion.
May, 2011
Road and Bridge Improvement Funding. The Legislature voted to approve $1,400,000 in funding for the construction and reconstruction of bridges within the County and funding for $9,770,000 in funding for the construction, maintenance and repair or road systems within Onondaga County. Each Spring, the Legislature votes to appropriate funding for maintenance and repair of our critical road/bridge infrastructure, which is part of the most fundamental and essential services provided by the County.
Operation Impact Funding. The Legislature authorized $303,000 in additional funding for Operation Impact, a specialized law enforcement program administered by in a coordinate fashion by County, City and State officials to target high concentration of law enforcement services in those areas that are impacted by the highest levels of crime.
April, 2011
Budgeting. The Legislature passed a resolution requiring Onondaga Community College to present multi-year budgets to the Legislature on an annual basis so that the County may conduct and project multi-year budgets in a fashion similar to what occurs in the private sector with many businesses.
Gray/Green Infrastructure. The Legislature approved more than $100 million in bonds to provide for the construction of gray and green storm water control systems within Onondaga County to insure the County complies with Federal Court directives and mandates to control storm water flow, prevent storm water infiltration into the sewer system and prevent future pollution of Onondaga Lake.
March, 2011
Leandra’s Law Funding. The Legislature voted to authorize the use of $40,000 in state grant funding for enhanced Probation Department supervision of those, within Onondaga County, who have been sentenced to a Leandra’s Law violation. These violations include driving while intoxicated while having a child within a vehicle. This will allow our County Probation Department to more closely scrutinize those subject to probation supervision for the most serious drunk driving offenses.
February, 2011
Velasko Road Reconstruction. The Legislature approved a measure which is the first step in advancing a complete reconstruction of Velasko Road to provide for enhanced road safety, road widening, turn lanes and other measures to make permanent improvements to Velasko Road.
Shared Services Agreement. The County approved a measure to enter into a continuation of a shared service agreement with Onondaga Community College whereby the College would utilize the County mail processing services and machinery. This service has been a tremendous success in reducing the costs of processing mail for the County, County taxpayers and for many other public entities including the College and the City.
Project Labor Agreement. The Legislature tabled and adjourned a measure that would have sought a feasibility study to determine if the County should enter into a project labor agreement with various local unions for work conducted at Onondaga Lake improvement projects. This measure garnered a great deal of debate concerning the need for such an agreement, providing open competitive bidding for all public and private entities and whether any PLA (project labor agreements) should even be entertained.
January, 2011
Administration. Because of the two sessions held in the month of December, this session was limited and involved appointment of persons to various boards for County emergency services, library boards, the OnCenter and the Division of Community Development.
December, 2010
County Budgeting. The Legislature passed a resolution requesting that each subsequent budget submitted by the Executive office outline and project the impact the proposed budget will have on the next two subsequent years. This is similar to multi-year budgets that many private enterprises utilize. This measure properly allows for a short term budget analysis as well as a longer term budget analysis and the impact on taxpayers.
Intermunicipal Agreements. The Legislature authorized the County to enter into intermunicipal agreements with the Town of Camillus and other towns/counties to provided shared and consolidated services. The agreement with the Town of Camillus provides for the County to disseminate emergency service calls and messages through the County E-911 center. The other agreement provides for shared services of the E-911 master communication site with other counties to reduce cost to Onondaga County taxpayer.
Military Pay and Benefits. The Legislature passed measures to provide maintain benefits and pay to those County employees presently serving in the military. The provisions provide that the County will pay military personnel the difference between their County pay and their military pay to insure that County employees are not financially penalized for serving our country and the military. Additionally, the County will provide full County medical and dental benefits to County personnel and their families if the military benefits do not meet the current level of County benefits.
November, 2010
Shared Services Agreement. The Legislature passed a measure to allow the County to enter into a shared services agreement with the Village of Skaneateles. The County will now provide, through the 911 Center, emergency message and relay services on behalf of the Village of Skaneateles allowing the Village to eliminate costs and personnel the Village had utilized in the past. This is a great example of consolidation and shared services to eliminate redundant government services.
Outsourcing Health Services. The Legislature voted to outsource and privatize mental health and other health services at the various jails and correctional facilities the County is obligated to operate. This action will reduce the County workforce, save on pension costs, reduce the County budget and reduce taxes for County residents. This measure allows the County to delegate this service to an outside vendor that specializes in these health services and generate budget savings.
October, 2010
Emergency Management Funding. The Onondaga County Legislature voted to accept grant funding for regional emergency management planning, organization, training, equipment and response capabilities. The County’s Emergency Management Department has taken the lead on consolidating local and regional efforts for responding to emergency situations such as: historic storms, floods, fires, chemical, biological or environmental hazards. This funding provides for the coordinated local and regional preparation.
Public Sewer Capacity Management. The Legislature considered a local law setting forth terms and conditions for sewer and water management within the county for new residential and commercial development. The local law addresses planning, zoning, and approval processes to make certain that sewer management, waste water management and storm water management comply with the County’s efforts to meet and exceed the most modern environmental standards. A similar yet amended measure was passed by the full Legislature in January, 2011 after relevant updates and revisions.
County Budget. The Legislature passed a budget which reduced the County budget (levy) to an all time low figure. The Legislature did this by: reducing positions; cutting programs; cutting discretionary spending; and wisely using excess emergency reserve funds to reduce taxes. Through the years, the Legislature has wisely built up a healthy emergency reserve fund to prepare the County for extraordinary circumstances. This fund has grown significantly and has more than enough funds to allow the Legislature to return a reasonable fraction of the reserve fund to the taxpayers by reducing their taxes.
County Budget. The Republican members of the Legislature voted to override budget vetoes the County Executive had issued. If the override had passed, the county budget would have been reduced significantly and County taxes, for all County residents, would have been reduced significantly. The Republican Caucus, which I am a part of, fought aggressively to pass an override to reduce taxes. Unfortunately, six Democrats from the City of Syracuse voted against the measure and blocked my efforts and the efforts of eleven other Legislators to reduce the budget and reduce taxes.
Abolish County Positions. In an effort to further cut taxes and reduce the County budget, the Legislature voted to eliminate and permanently abolish 158 of vacant County positions. This measure will insure unnecessary positions will not be filled in the future, will reduce the total number of County employees and reduce the cost of operating County government.
