In short
Mayor Dave Maughan’s annual review says Syracuse finished Stoker Park, built a dog park and pump track, completed a new reservoir, and rehabilitated several miles of road in 2024. Twenty-six new businesses opened, and he writes that both the delayed Costco project and the LDS temple are expected in 2025. Fire Department calls rose 17%, while overall crime trended down. He also writes that he did not fully support the tax increase approved in August and that the city must slow its growth rate in 2025.
Everything else
Parks
- Parks have their own dedicated and limited funds. The city finished Stoker Park (tennis courts, restrooms, pavilion, lighted volleyball courts, new trees), built a dog park and a pump track, and replaced some worn playgrounds.
- Old-growth shade trees at Stoker Park were removed because disease left them unhealthy and unsafe.
Growth and business
- 26 new businesses opened in Syracuse in 2024 as of the time the article was written, fewer than in the prior two years.
- The Costco project saw a significant delay but is back on track and expected in 2025 according to the latest reports. The mayor writes that the Syracuse LDS temple is also expected to open in 2025, though he has no official word.
Public safety
- The Public Safety Jamboree was the city’s largest yet, with an estimated 3,000-plus attendees.
- Fire Department calls rose 17% and are expected to keep growing. About two-thirds of calls are for medical services.
- Police call tracking increased sharply, but overall crime trended down. Crimes against persons stayed about the same, while crimes against property and against society were significantly lower. The mayor credits officer experience and training.
- Two more officers graduated from the police academy. Officer Lance Call retires this month after 34 years of service, including work as a School Resource Officer and with the city’s youth court.
Roads and water
- Public Works crews added new and improved pedestrian crossings on many busy roads.
- A new Syracuse Reservoir was completed, adding water storage capacity and water pressure.
- Several miles of roads were rehabilitated, shortening the backlog toward a regular road management schedule.
Taxes and the mayor’s plan
- The mayor writes that he did not fully support the significant tax increase adopted in August, that he had no vote on it, and that he proposed a four-pillar plan to avoid future increases. He first wrote about the plan in his September message.
- He reports that over the last five years elected officials and staff captured $35.4 million in outside grant funding, $8 million more than the city collected in property taxes over the same period, which he figures as $2.29 of benefit for every $1 paid in property tax.
- The first pillar, slowing the growth rate, is what he says must change in 2025. Syracuse was the fastest-growing city in the county for seven of the last eight years, and he argues dropping to second or third would ease pressure on the tax rate.
- He writes that lobbyists have pressed state representatives and have cast the plan as an anti-housing effort, and that the city’s aim is to manage growth rather than stop it, since impact fees alone do not leave time to save for the infrastructure growth requires.
Unofficial digest of a city newsletter. The official version is linked below.
Comments
Comments are not set up yet.