Onondaga County workers, arts groups speak against budget cuts

Sheriff Kevin Walsh says cuts to his staff would threaten the department's ability to provide public safety.

View full sizeMike Greenlar / The Post StandardOnondaga County Sheriff's deputy Tom Harmon, of Salina, holds his baby daughter, Shey Harmon, before the start of the Onondaga County budget hearing at the Oncenter Convention Center on Thursday night. There was a large turnout of Onondaga County Sheriff's personel because the Ways and Means Committee wants to cut 29 positions from the department.

Syracuse, NY -- Speakers at a public hearing Thursday night protested proposed job cuts at the Onondaga County Sheriff's Department, the elimination of the department's helicopter and the slashing of county funding of various arts and cultural groups,

About 250 people, including about 30 sheriff's deputies who sat up front, attended the hearing at the Onondaga County Convention Center. Many spoke against the nearly $50 million in cuts that the Ways & Means Committee of the Onondaga County Legislture recommended last week in County Executive Joanie Mahoney's $1.2 billion 2011 spending plan.

Sheriff Kevin Walsh the proposed elimination of 29 positions in his department would "represent a loss to our county that cannot be measured in dollars alone."

"Never before has the sheriff's ability to provide public safety been so threatened," he said.

Chet Fritz, deputy county fire coordinator, urged lawmakers not to eliminate the helicopter. "It save the lives of firefighters and civilians and helps catch bad guys," he said. "Please don't take this life-saving tool from us."

Phil Graham, president of Local 834 of the Civil Service Employees Association, which represents about 3,300 Onondaga County employees, said the union will take legal action to stop the county from contracting out medical- and food-service jobs in the corrections department.

“The union will not sit back and allow the county to contract out our jobs,” he said.

Sixteens arts and cultural groups are in line for $387,252 in funding cuts next year under the reductions recommended by the Ways & Means Committee.

David Panasci, chairman of the Syracuse Opera, which stands to lose all of its $61,467 in county funding, said the cuts will put many of the arts organizations in jeopardy. He said the organizations are important to the local economy, generating business for restaurants and sales tax revenue for the county.

"We really get a big bang for our buck," he said of the county funding.

The Legislature is scheduled to vote on the budget Tuesday.

Contact Rick Moriarty at rmoriarty@syracuse.com or (315) 470-3148.