Skaneateles, NY - The village of Skaneateles is hanging up its dispatch center by the end of the year. Part-time police officers in the village of Marcellus are patrolling neighborhoods less. And all Liverpool village employees have agreed to forgo pay raises. The villages took these actions to try to cut costs following the Onondaga County Legislature’s decision to end...
Skaneateles, NY - The village of Skaneateles is hanging up its dispatch center by the end of the year.
Part-time police officers in the village of Marcellus are patrolling neighborhoods less.
And all Liverpool village employees have agreed to forgo pay raises.
The villages took these actions to try to cut costs following the Onondaga County Legislature’s decision to end the longstanding practice of giving nearly one-third of the sales tax money to suburban towns, villages and school districts.
Villages are harder hit than most towns and school districts because they have relied on sales tax money for more of their budgets, some up to one third of their spending.
The Skaneateles village board last week voted 5-0 to eliminate the only full-time local dispatch center in Onondaga County by Dec. 31, a move that will save the village nearly $170,000. The town of Skaneateles, which pays half the costs, will save about $170,000, too.
Skaneateles Village Mayor Robert A. Green Jr. said the village will lose about $300,000 in sales taxes, so closing the dispatch center is one way the village can reduce costs.
Green said several residents have told him closing the dispatch center is a good idea. “People don’t want to see their property taxes increase,” he said.
Skaneateles Fire Chief Eric Sell opposes closing the center.
“It’s going to be a huge loss to the community,” he said. “People rely on it.”
Sell said he’s talked to many residents who want to see the center stay in the community.
“I know there are budget cuts that need to be made, but this is one thing that should not be cut out of the budget,” the fire chief said. “For something like this, I would pay the extra taxes for it.”
The mayor said taxes would have to rise 21 percent if the village made no cuts. That would mean a village resident with a house assessed at $100,000 would pay $73 more.
“It’s a very emotional issue for those close to the dispatch center, but our decision is strictly financial,” Green said. “This is just the first step. There are going to be additional cuts.”
Greg Surbeck, one of four full-time Skaneateles dispatchers, said he has worked at the center for about 22 years.
“I don’t like to be compared to 911 because we are different,” he said. “It’s a small community.”
Surbeck and the other dispatchers receive all sorts of calls, ranging from buildings on fire to residents who need a ride to the doctor’s office or because their car broke down, he said.
Dispatchers field calls for a volunteer-run program known as FISH, which gives senior citizens rides to doctor’s offices or when they want to go shopping, Surbeck said. They also receive calls for Laker Limo, an offshoot of FISH that gives residents rides to Syracuse and other surrounding areas, Surbeck said.
“If your car broke down and you need a ride, or if you have to go to the doctor’s or shopping, it gives them a chance to get out of the house,” he said.
County officials have written Skaneateles’ mayor a letter, stating they would support legislation to create four full-time dispatch positions for Skaneateles dispatchers, Green said.
Other communities throughout Central New York also are trying to find ways to deal with the loss of sales tax money.
“You either raise taxes or cut services,” Marcellus Village Mayor John P. Curtin said.
Marcellus village officials have already cut back, anticipating they will lose about $150,000 in county sales tax revenue beginning Jan. 1, Curtin said.
The village’s part-time patrol officers work fewer hours, and services likely will have to be cut from every department, the mayor said. The village also is considering a pay freeze for its seven employees, Curtin said.
In Liverpool, all village employees — including members of the police department — have agreed to forgo pay raises, Mayor Gary White said.
And in Geddes, the town board decided since the county was pulling the plug on its sales tax revenue, it would save nearly $25,000 a year by pulling the plug on highway lighting along a stretch of Interstate 690 west of the Syracuse city line.
Geddes — which received $2.9 million — is the only town in the county to use 100 percent of its sales tax money to fund town operations. By 2013, it will get zero.
Every 10 years, the county renegotiates how it collects and distributes sales tax money. The new sales tax agreement adopted by the county and the city cuts the taxes given to towns, villages and school districts from about $87 million this year to $8 million three years from now.
Catie O’Toole can be reached at cotoole@syracuse.com or 470-2134.