AUDIO TRANSCRIPT: Councilor Nave voices opposition to Mayor Walsh’s 2% property tax hike
Nicholas Alumkal: Mayor Walsh said the higher costs for expenses forced his hand. The budget will have to be approved by the Common Council. Councilor Marty Nave is opposed to the tax increase.
Marty Nave: I think we have forgotten the forgotten middle class.
Alumkal: Nave proposes to increase the hotel tax and use the budget surplus to make up for the city’s deficit.
Nave: We have a surplus, we should use that surplus for this year. There’s other ways to make money.
Alumkal: The council must approve a final budget by May 8. Nave says there will be a budget but will try to remove Walsh’s tax hike.
Nave: We can’t hold the public, the constituents, responsible for the mistakes that go on take place in the administration.”
Alumkal: Nicholas Alumkal, NCC News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Syracuse Common Councilor Marty Nave is opposed to Mayor Ben Walsh’s proposed budget for $348.4 million budget proposal for 2025-26. He said the 2% property tax increase has negative effects on his constituents and instead proposes raising the hotel tax.
“I think we have forgotten the forgotten middle class,” Nave said.
Nave, who represents the 1st District in Northern Syracuse, said his constituents feel the tax hike on their daily needs.
“In my common council district, we’re not rich,” Nave said. “People are on the poverty line. They’re middle class folks that live in my neighborhood… They work hard, they pay their taxes. Food prices are going up all over. They go to the grocery store, they pay more. Electrical bills go up. Housing insurance goes up.”
Walsh said higher costs for expenses like retirement payments and health insurance combined with a slowdown in key revenue sources like sales tax and investment income forced his hand on inserting the tax increase in his final budget proposal of his time in office before a new mayor is elected in November.
Walsh said the extra money is needed to avoid dipping too far into the city’s $120 million savings fund. The next budget would grab $27.2 million from that fund, which is built from years when actual revenues outpaced expenses.
The proposal was announced April 9. The common council must vote on the budget by May 8.
“2%, you say, means nothing,” Nave said. “But it’s the working class people of my district, of my city, that are in the back of my mind.”
Nave said he received a text from a constituent that thanked him for his opposition to the tax hike.
“She said, ‘Thank you, councilman, for remembering us, the middle class,'” Nave said. ‘”My tax bill is going up, but my wages aren’t going up.'”
Nave recommends pulling from the budget surpluses from past years, which is estimated to total $120 million.
“I just have a feel for my constituents, and I understand where they are coming from,” Nave said.
Nave said he “didn’t have a problem” raising the hotel tax. He said when sports teams, concerts, conventions or any other visitors come into town, a little tax won’t deter them, and it will help Syracuse’s economy and not cause more harm to Syracuse citizens and his constituents.
“We can’t hold the public, the constituents, responsible for the mistakes that go on take place in the administration,” Nave said.