The Greater Syracuse Labor Council, a union organization that represents 40,000 workers, called on the Syracuse Common Council Friday to rescind its vote forgiving a nearly $217,000 electric bill owed to the city by the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce. “In these tough economic times, when people’s taxes are increasing and services are being cut, forgiving a debt to an...
The Greater Syracuse Labor Council, a union organization that represents 40,000 workers, called on the Syracuse Common Council Friday to rescind its vote forgiving a nearly $217,000 electric bill owed to the city by the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce.
“In these tough economic times, when people’s taxes are increasing and services are being cut, forgiving a debt to an organization who can afford to pay for it is egregious,” said Dr. Dennis Nave, president of the council.
He said the council’s 350 delegates, who represent the Labor Council’s 40,000 members, unanimously voted Wednesday to demand that the Common Council rescind its vote forgiving the bill run up by the chamber-owned Syracuse Technology Garden, a downtown office building with 30 technology company startups for tenants.
With Mayor Stephanie Miner’s support, the Common Council voted 7-2 in March to forgive the debt as long as the chamber or its successor does not sell the building at 235 Harrison St. for a profit within 10 years, something city officials have said they do not expect to happen.
Terms of the arrangement were incorporated into a no-interest leasehold mortgage on the property. Only councilors-at-large Lance Denno and Jean Kessner voted against it. Councilors-at-large Kathleen Joy and Bill Ryan, and district councilors Matthew Rayo, Patrick Hogan, Ryan McMahon, Thomas Seals and Nader Maroun voted for it.
The bill was run up over five years during the administration of then-Mayor Matt Driscoll because of a mix-up over an electric meter in the city-owned parking garage under the Tech Garden. The city leases the land under the Tech Garden to the chamber for $1 a year.
Nave said the Labor Council’s members were particularly angered at the deal in light of the fact that the chamber paid its former president, Darlene Kerr, more than $260,000 a year. Kerr resigned when the chamber merged recently with the Metropolitan Development Association and adopted a new name, CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity.
“If an organization can afford to pay that kind of money, I think they can afford to pay the bill,” Nave said.
Kevin Schwab, communications director for CenterState, said financial problems at the chamber made it impossible to pay the bill. He said those problems are being addressed by the new organization, starting with the elimination of $650,000 in salaries.
He declined to say what CenterState President Robert Simpson is being paid, but he said it was “not even close” to the $263,000 salary the chamber paid Kerr, who now holds an unpaid position on the new organization’s board of directors.
Joy, the Common Council’s majority leader, defended the council’s vote. She said the city benefits from having the Tech Garden and the 100 people employed at it downtown.
She also said she did not view the debt as being “totally forgiven” because it will have to be paid if the building is sold for a profit within 10 years.
Ryan said he has no interest in revisiting the arrangement, which he said solved "a mess" that the Miner administration inherited from the Driscoll administration.
Ken Mokrzycki, city director of administration, said Miner also stands by the arrangement. Without it, the merger of the Metropolitan Development Association and the chamber could not have occurred, he said.
Contact Rick Moriarty at rmoriarty@syracuse.com or (315) 470-3148.