Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney on Wednesday vetoed $22 million of the $45 million in changes that county lawmakers made to her 2011 spending plan, bringing her total vetoes this week to $24 million. Mahoney criticized the Legislature’s budget changes, saying that, while they would lower the county property tax levy by $45 million in 2011, they would create a...
Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney on Wednesday vetoed $22 million of the $45 million in changes that county lawmakers made to her 2011 spending plan, bringing her total vetoes this week to $24 million.
Mahoney criticized the Legislature’s budget changes, saying that, while they would lower the county property tax levy by $45 million in 2011, they would create a budget gap of $48 million to $60 million in 2012 while reducing the county’s general fund balance — its savings account — to $52 million.
“I’m imploring upon them the necessity to look forward to 2012,” she said.
The Legislature has scheduled a special meeting for Thursday morning to vote on overriding her vetoes. Lawmakers approved their changes to her proposed $1.12 billion spending plan Oct. 12 by a 15-3 vote, and they need only 13 votes to override her vetoes.
Mahoney, who has been meeting with legislators individually since last week, said she is hoping they will compromise on their changes. However, she said she had not received a commitment from them to do so.
Legislature Chairman James Rhinehart, R-Skaneateles, said he is hoping lawmakers override all of her vetoes.
“I hope so,” he said. “Every one of her vetoes is a tax increase.”
Rhinehart noted that county property tax rates already are projected to rise in many suburban towns. Any addition to the tax levy would make them rise even more, he said.
“It’s tough economic times out there,” he said. “People are fed up.”
Mahoney could only veto spending increases or increases by the Legislature in revenue estimates. The nine vetoes she submitted Wednesday zeroed in on Legislature’s tapping of the general fund reserve ($12 million) and other reserve accounts, and its estimate that the county will pull in $3 million more in property tax collections next year.
As a compromise offer to the Legislature, she said she did not veto about $11 million in other changes lawmakers made, including their higher estimates of county sales tax collections.
Mahoney said many of the changes the Legislature made to her budget were not spending cuts but the use of “one-shot” revenues and the spending of county reserves.
If the Legislature overrides her vetoes, she said she will be forced to consider closing parks and the Central Library, not paving roads, and other spending cuts because most of the rest of the budget consists of state mandates and public safety spending.
Mahoney filed her first vetoes Monday — the $1.8 million sale of the Sheriff’s Department helicopter and $100,000 in revenues from opening county parks to logging.
Contact Rick Moriarty at rmoriarty@syracuse.com or (315) 470-3148.