Onondaga County announces plan for “enhanced” village-improvement program

Onondaga County Executive J. Ryan McMahon II on Wednesday addressed reporters in his office about an agreement for what the county called an “enhanced” village-improvement plan that county lawmakers are currently considering. Joining McMahon at the Wednesday press conference were (from left to right) Martin Hubbard, mayor of the Village of Skaneateles; Mark Olson, mayor of the Village of Fayetteville, and president of the Onondaga County Mayor’s Association; and David Knapp, chairman of the Onondaga County Legislature. (Eric Reinhardt / BJNN)

Lawmakers will vote on the plan at either their Dec. 18 meeting or the Jan. 2 meeting, Knapp said as the group addressed reporters in the county executive’s office Wednesday morning.

In his remarks, McMahon said the current plan with the villages is set to expire. He also called the new plan the “first real large intergovernmental win for the community for the next 10 years of this administration.”

“This is funding that goes to our villages that addresses their capital needs, their public-safety needs, their neighborhood-development needs, and helps stabilize property taxes,” said McMahon.

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The program calls for the allocation of $5.25 million to be made available starting Jan. 1, 2020, per an Onondaga County news release on the topic.

It will increase to $5.5 million 2023, $5.75 million in 2026, and $6 million in 2029. The program will run for a period of 10 years.

The current allocation has been $4.5 million “for the last several years,” per the news release.

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The funds will be used to provide financial assistance to the villages within Onondaga County to make various investments and improvements within each village.

County lawmakers will get status reports on village projects throughout each calendar year.

All 15 villages in Onondaga County “will benefit from this new deal,” Olson contended in his remarks at the Wednesday press briefing.

“We want to thank the county executive and his team for working with us and being able to put a good structured deal together that we can use in our budgets moving forward for the next 10 years,” he added.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

Eric Reinhardt: