Taking a closer look at the information in the 2025 Executive Budget Book, it seems to show only so many “budgeted” positions are actually funded in the county budget.
In the budget it mentions filled positions, budgeted positions and staffing. If departments are 30 – 40% understaffed looking at the “budgeted” positions then I would expect to find that they are not using all of their allocated salary budget. But looking at the health department as an example it doesn’t seem like this is the case. See page 226. In 2024, the salary line is budgeted at $12,608,932 and actual spending in 2023 was $11,561,796. Not enough to reach that yellow bar in my opinion.
Sharing this information as I go through and try to understand Onondaga County’s budget. Comment below or email us your thoughts. The public hearing for the 2025 tentative budget is Thursday, October 3rd at 5:30pm, 401 Montgomery St, Room 407, Syracuse.
County Department | 2025 | 2025 | 2024 | Open + |
---|---|---|---|---|
"Budgeted" | Funded | Filled | Funded | |
Sheriff | 886 | 618 | 657 | 0 |
Social Services | 629 | 499 | 443 | 56 |
Health Department | 504 | 321 | 268 | 53 |
Children & Family Services | 441 | 322 | 266 | 56 |
Water Environment Protection | 427 | 386 | 339 | 47 |
Highway | 213 | 167 | 148 | 19 |
Emergency Communications | 201 | 158 | 134 | 24 |
Facilities Management | 138 | 127 | 120 | 7 |
Finance | 124 | 83 | 65 | 18 |
Parks & Recreation | 117 | 92 | 87 | 5 |
District Attorney | 121 | 111 | 86 | 25 |
Library | 107 | 86 | 75 | 11 |
IT | 97 | 58 | 52 | 6 |
Personnel | 72 | 47 | 32 | 15 |
Adult & Long-Term Care | 64 | 53 | 48 | 5 |
Law | 54 | 40 | 34 | 6 |
Clerk | 38 | 29 | 28 | 1 |
Community Development | 22 | 20 | 16 | 4 |
Economic Development | 18 | 9 | 6 | 3 |
Comptroller | 32 | 28 | 26 | 2 |
Purchase Division | 29 | 20 | 18 | 2 |
Planning | 27 | 14 | 12 | 2 |
Legislature | 25 | 24 | 23 | 1 |
Board of Elections | 20 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
County Executive | 14 | 12 | 13 | 0 |
Diversity | 10 | 10 | 7 | 3 |
Veterans Services | 9 | 8 | 7 | 1 |
Total | 4439 | 3362 | 3030 | 372 |
Elaine Denton