Syracuse group Consensus aims to hold a government merger referendum next year after the approval of a plan to share some services between area municipalities last week, a co-founder of the organization said.

Cornelius Murphy, a co-founder of Consensus and former of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry president, said five out of the group’s 49 final recommendations were recently approved in Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney’s shared services plan.

Consensus aims to have a government merger referendum between the city of Syracuse and Onondaga County governments on the ballot in 2018, Murphy said. A merger between the two governments to create one legislative body was not included in Mahoney’s plan.

“We still have long way to go,” Murphy said.

Consensus, founded in 2014, is a group of prominent local government officials and business leaders that want to reduce government spending by consolidating services and legislative bodies.

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner criticized the plan earlier this year, saying the proposed merger neglected school districts and would force the city into “eternal poverty.”

Initially, Consensus members pushed area officials to hold a merger referendum this November. Due to time constraints, though, that push failed, Murphy said.

The controversial shared services plan — mandated by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — was approved last Wednesday by a group of local mayors, town supervisors and school district representatives.

Mahoney’s shared services plan incorporated some of Consensus’ recommendations, but was not the same as the citizen group’s report.

Cuomo’s County-Wide Shared Services Initiative, announced earlier this year, forced county governments to find ways to reduce spending by consolidating overlapping services in their jurisdictions.

“When this community talks about Consensus, it’s been ‘A’ or ‘B.’ And this, version C, is a hybrid that is a lot closer to satisfying,” Mahoney said after the vote last Wednesday, referring to the shared services plan.

Murphy also said consolidation of the Onondaga County Sheriff’s office and the Jamesville/Dewitt Jail was another Consensus recommendation approved in the shared services plan vote.

A consolidation of the Onondaga County Water Board and the Syracuse Water Authority was one Consensus recommendation recently approved in the county executive’s plan, Murphy added.

Consensus wants to continue its efforts to reduce the cost of city services, he said. The group will keep working, Murphy said, to educate members of the public and promote awareness about government consolidation.

One Consensus recommendation included in Mahoney’s plan that was not approved is the consolidation of the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency and Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency.

A consolidation between the development agencies would have established a new economic development center, Murphy said.

Murphy said he thinks many people in the community do not know understand what the shared services plan is.

It would be beneficial if the area population was more active and engaged in the shared services planning process, he said.

Some residents, though, at a public hearing for the plan criticized the shared services approval process as undemocratic and lacking transparency.

Consensus estimated between $8.7 million and $22.9 million could be saved in government spending by merging the Syracuse and Onondaga County legislative bodies.

Published on September 18, 2017 at 9:34 pm

Contact Bianca: bmoorman@syr.edu