Spring Break
The Daily OrangeMayor Driscoll unveils budget; focuses on rental housing
By A.J. Donatoni
Posted: 4/11/07, 11:16 PM EST Section: News
This time the benefits from the city-university relationship are flowing uphill.
Syracuse University students should benefit from one part of the Syracuse city budget proposed by Mayor Matt Driscoll on Monday, according to Bethaida Gonzalez, president of the Syracuse Common Council and interim dean at University College.
The rental property initiative, which is in Driscoll's proposal, would allow the city to improve its tracking of the quality of local rental properties, which Gonzalez said would be beneficial to students. She also said it would provide city resources to hire more inspectors to monitor rentals.
Upkeep of rental properties in the neighborhood east of campus is one of the complaints raised by the South East Neighborhood Organization's proposed legislation to reduce the number of unrelated people living in a rental property from five to three.
The budget plan also calls for a safer and more controlled environment on the SU campus, specifically with traffic, said Ken Mokrzycki, director of administration for the city of Syracuse.
"The university has cooperative efforts in a lot of areas, one of which is traffic control," he said. "We have an agreement with the university regarding policing when events occur. People can come to the events and be assured of their safety and also be assured that they're able to get around in a convenient manner without traffic jams and bottlenecks."
Driscoll's budget also increases funding for park patrols by police officers. Mokrzycki said new park patrols will help keep the parks in the city much safer during the summer.
"It's good that the city is doing things to improve the university," said Josh Goldstein, an undeclared freshman. "It seems like they do a great job with the campus because I never have any problems, and there's always security when you need it."
The mayor's proposal, despite no tax increase, no hike in water rates and no rise in sewer bills, increases the city's spending by more than 12 percent to $580,476,091. An increase in state aid and $9.8 million from the Carousel Center expansion allowed Driscoll to expand spending without raising taxes.
Much of the budget increase is in the school district's share, which is up 8.6 percent to $320 million after adjusting for an accounting change required by the state, Mokrzycki said.
Driscoll said he was happy with the proposal because it keeps taxes flat while launching new initiatives, according to an article in The Post-Standard. He said there was no reason to increase the tax burden on the city residents in a year when it was not necessary.
Syracuse University students should benefit from one part of the Syracuse city budget proposed by Mayor Matt Driscoll on Monday, according to Bethaida Gonzalez, president of the Syracuse Common Council and interim dean at University College.
The rental property initiative, which is in Driscoll's proposal, would allow the city to improve its tracking of the quality of local rental properties, which Gonzalez said would be beneficial to students. She also said it would provide city resources to hire more inspectors to monitor rentals.
Upkeep of rental properties in the neighborhood east of campus is one of the complaints raised by the South East Neighborhood Organization's proposed legislation to reduce the number of unrelated people living in a rental property from five to three.
The budget plan also calls for a safer and more controlled environment on the SU campus, specifically with traffic, said Ken Mokrzycki, director of administration for the city of Syracuse.
"The university has cooperative efforts in a lot of areas, one of which is traffic control," he said. "We have an agreement with the university regarding policing when events occur. People can come to the events and be assured of their safety and also be assured that they're able to get around in a convenient manner without traffic jams and bottlenecks."
Driscoll's budget also increases funding for park patrols by police officers. Mokrzycki said new park patrols will help keep the parks in the city much safer during the summer.
"It's good that the city is doing things to improve the university," said Josh Goldstein, an undeclared freshman. "It seems like they do a great job with the campus because I never have any problems, and there's always security when you need it."
The mayor's proposal, despite no tax increase, no hike in water rates and no rise in sewer bills, increases the city's spending by more than 12 percent to $580,476,091. An increase in state aid and $9.8 million from the Carousel Center expansion allowed Driscoll to expand spending without raising taxes.
Much of the budget increase is in the school district's share, which is up 8.6 percent to $320 million after adjusting for an accounting change required by the state, Mokrzycki said.
Driscoll said he was happy with the proposal because it keeps taxes flat while launching new initiatives, according to an article in The Post-Standard. He said there was no reason to increase the tax burden on the city residents in a year when it was not necessary.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Mary Dugas
posted 4/12/07 @ 10:42 AM EST
As a parent of an SU student and former Syracuse resident myself; I feel it is long overdue that the City of Syracuse,the University -administrators AND student representatives, and residents of the area work together to come up with a viable solution to the off-campus housing housing dilemma. (Continued…)
Post a Comment