Hours before the Onondaga County Legislature convened to vote on next year’s proposed budget, Syracuse University’s Thursday Morning Roundtable got a sense of what kind of programs the county taxes will be going toward.

County Executive Nicholas Pirro, who spoke at the Drumlins Country Club Thursday, presented a report to a community forum on the finances of Onondaga County, the center point of which is Syracuse.

‘Nick challenges me to think differently and puts me to the test,’ said Tony Callisto, chief administrator of the Onondaga County Justice Center, who introduced Pirro. ‘He’s down-to-earth; he’s with you and me.’

The majority of his speech focused on Medicaid, and the toll its price has taken on the taxpayers of Onondaga County.

‘We have three (budget) goals,’ Pirro said. ‘The first is to restore financial stability, the second, preservation of infrastructure. The third is to sustain the core services that we must provide as a county government.’

Pirro stated that the reason Medicaid costs are going up is because of expanded eligibility, the extreme rise in drug costs and the general rising cost of health care as a whole.

‘It’s shifting costs back to local taxpayers,’ Pirro said. ‘I don’t want to hear about increasing property taxes and increasing sales taxes. This can’t happen in New York state.’

New York state has one of America’s best Medicaid plans, yet it is also the most expensive, according to data Pirro presented. It costs taxpayers 50 percent more per capita to fund the Medicaid plan in New York state than the next-highest expensive plan. This price is twice the national average.

‘We are going to spend 24 hours a day solving this Medicaid issue,’ Pirro said. ‘I hope that after November 2 we will still see enthusiasm to get things done.’

According to Pirro’s data, Onondaga County will spend $1.7 million a week on Medicaid alone in 2005. County taxes would fall 49 percent without Medicaid.

Pirro insisted that this issue not be seen through the eyes of party politics.

‘This is not about favoring one side or the other,’ he said. ‘This is about our survival.’

He also addressed more local issues, such as cleaning pollution in Onondaga Lake, the DestiNY USA plan, and gang violence, especially in the city of Syracuse.

‘DestiNY will change this whole area and bring many more jobs,’ Pirro said. ‘It’s our Disneyworld, our Las Vegas.’

Pirro called for change and said that without it, either property taxes would be substantially raised, which would hinder economic recovery, or other programs relying on taxes for financial support would have to be diminished, such as parks and public safety.

After his 45-minute talk, Pirro took several questions from the audience, which totaled about 75 members, of the Thursday Morning Roundtable.

When asked about the possibility of a nationalized health care plan, Pirro shook his head.

‘National health care is not the best way to go for this country,’ he said, adding that he already thought America’s federal health plan was adequate.

The members of the Thursday Morning Roundtable left with a better image of how the county has been handling certain pervading issues.

‘(Pirro) really gave a clear picture of the plusses and minuses of what’s (financially) possible at the county level,’ said Jinx Crouch, a longtime member of the roundtable. ‘He’s very approachable and answers questions the best he can.’

‘After all,’ she said, ‘everyone’s crying for money.’

Published on October 7, 2004 at 12:00 pm