The position of City Auditor is an important one. The City of Syracuse City Charter grants powers and responsibilities to the Auditor’s office that can, and should protect you, the taxpayer, as well as help the city make the necessary improvements for future growth.
To see what powers and responsibilities are granted to the City Auditor, click here.
As the next Auditor of the City of Syracuse, I will work diligently to be a strong advocate for the citizens of this city, and to provide the city administration with recommendations that will help the city, and in turn, its people.
My Approach to the City Budget:
The City budget needs to be balanced using only core projected revenue, without gimmicks, or use of one-time-only revenue, or reserves. New revenue will result from the development of properties and businesses in the City. Stimulus monies will be used for infrastructure improvements, leveraging of funds to produce additional revenue, but not for directly balancing the budget.
To the extent practical the objective would be to reduce the costs of city operations, provided that the result of such reductions would still enables the City to provide the same or better services. City services must be valued from the perspective of what they bring to the citizens, both in quantity and quality. Pension and health care costs need to be aligned with what is competitively offered in the private sector and what can be sustained by economic standards of the city. The basis for calculation of pension benefits needs to be managed more effectively with respect to eligible employees.
Click on the links below to learn more about some of Steve’s plans for the job.
“Operation: Syracuse Everywhere” – Steve’s proposal for increased transparency and accountability.
