1 1 2 STATE OF NEW YORK : ONONDAGA COUNTY LEGISLATURE 3 COUNTY OF ONONDAGA 4 ------------------------------------------- In the Matter of the 5 2018 PROPOSED BUDGET 6 ------------------------------------------- 7 PUBLIC HEARING in the above matter, conducted 8 at the Onondaga County Court House Legislative Chambers, 401 Montgomery Street, 4th Floor, 9 Syracuse, New York before JOHN F. DRURY, CSR & RPR, Notary Public in and for the State of New York, 10 on October 5, 2017, 7:00 p.m. 11 ONONDAGA COUNTY LEGISLATORS PRESENT: 12 DIST. NAME 13 1st BRIAN F. MAY 2nd JOHN C. DOUGHERTY 14 3rd TIM BURTIS (not present) 4th JUDITH A. TASSONE 15 5th KATHLEEN A. RAPP 16 6th MICHAEL E. PLOCHOCKI 7th DANNY J. LIEDKA 17 8th CHRISTOPHER J. RYAN 9th PEGGY CHASE 18 10th KEVIN A. HOLMQUIST 19 11th PATRICK M. KILMARTIN 12th DAVID H. KNAPP 20 13th DEREK T. SHEPARD, JR. 14th CASEY E. JORDAN 21 15th J. RYAN McMAHON, II, Chairman 22 16th MONICA WILLIAMS 17th LINDA R. ERVIN 23 Clerk of Legislature: Deborah T. Maturo 24 Reported By: 25 John F. Drury, CSR, RPR Court Reporter 471-7397 2 1 2 INDEX TO SPEAKERS 3 SPEAKERS PAGES 4 RABBI DANIEL FELLMAN Human Rights Com. 5 5 VIRGINIA CARMODY Literary Coalition 8 6 MARY BETH FREY Samaritan Center 15 7 JOHN SINDONI Samaritan Center 20 8 BOB ANTONACCI County Comptroller 22 9 MARK BURGER Ond. County SWCD 25 10 TOM LAW 27 11 HASSAN IBRAHIM CNY Somalia Com. 36 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 Knapp 2 LEGISLATOR KNAPP: Good evening 3 everyone. I would like to call to order 4 the Ways and Means Committee public 5 hearing on the 2018 Propped Budget. 6 A few administrative items before we 7 get started. Point out the exits in the 8 back and front to my right. Also a sign 9 in sheet back here. Also if you want to 10 speak, please sign in back here. Right 11 now we have seven speakers, so if you 12 have not done that, please do so. When 13 it's your turn I will announce yourself 14 then I will say who's on deck. So that 15 we can be ready to come up. Please come 16 up and use this podium to my left. And 17 we'll make sure that the light is on for 18 you, for the speakers, so that we can 19 get your comments on the record. 20 Also Legislators, if you make any 21 comments or questions, please make sure 22 you are using your microphones so we can 23 get your comments on the record. They 24 don't have them on. So if you're going 25 to make a comment we'll call you up 4 1 Knapp 2 front. That one is actually intentional 3 so Legislators won't be encouraged to 4 comment. 5 So with that, like to remind 6 everybody, please silence your cell 7 phones. And with that we will get 8 started. First I'll ask the Chairman if 9 he has any preliminary comments that he 10 would like to make before we get started? 11 CHAIRMAN McMAHON: No, all set, 12 thank you. 13 LEGISLATOR KNAPP: And any comments 14 from Legislators before we get started 15 to the public comment period? Being 16 none, we'll move forward. Already 17 mentioned, if you wish to sign in, 18 please come up front. Also if you have 19 a printed copy of your comments, please 20 give that to our Clerk, Debbie Maturo, 21 for the record. 22 So the comment period will now 23 begin. And first up is Rabbi Daniel 24 Fellman, and after him will be Virginia 25 Carmody. As the Rabbi is coming up, as 5 1 Rabbi Fellman 2 in the past we would like to keep your 3 comments to three to five minutes, and 4 I'll keep a little clock going, but if 5 you could stay within that time frame we 6 would appreciate it. Thank you. 7 RABBI FELLMAN: My congregation has 8 tried doing that with me for years, good 9 luck. Good evening. I am Rabbi Daniel 10 J. Fellman, I am Rabbi at Temple Concord. 11 I'm here this evening as the co-Chair of 12 the Joint Onondaga County-Syracuse Human 13 Rights Commission. 14 The Commission was voted back into 15 existence by all of you unanimously in 16 2015. And over the last year and-a-half 17 or so we have gotten ourselves up and 18 running and moving. But we have found 19 that the staffing that the County is 20 providing isn't enough. 21 When the Human Rights Commission 22 existed in its earlier days, which ended 23 in 2010, there was one Executive Director 24 and two people working for her, as 25 Investigators. And there was one Human 6 1 Rabbi Fellman 2 Rights Commission. Today there is a 3 Human Rights Commission, the Human 4 Rights Commissioner oversees or works 5 with, as well as the Jail Oversight 6 Committee, and she has one Investigator. 7 So she has double the work and half the 8 staff. It's simply untenable. 9 The Charter that you all passed 10 unanimously asked us to stand up and 11 become an active force and do the work 12 to ensure the human rights of all of us 13 in this community. We can't do that 14 without effective staff. And so we need 15 the tools to be able to do that. I 16 understand that the budgets are tight, I 17 fully understand those challenges. I 18 wish we could go back to the staffing 19 level we had in 2010. I know that may 20 not be possible this year, but I do 21 think it may be possible to at least add 22 an interim part time or an interim full 23 time person this year. 24 The Executive Director currently is 25 working 12 hours days five days a week. 7 1 Rabbi Fellman 2 She has no administrative help. So the 3 office then had an Executive Director, 4 two Investigators and a part time 5 person; four people. Today there is one 6 Administrator and one Investigator. So 7 there are two people. And the 8 Investigator is not quite full time. So 9 we need to do, in addition, she has been 10 asked to do ADA compliance and Title VI 11 compliance, which means her workload has 12 more than doubled, tripled, quadrupled, 13 and her ability to do that work has 14 shrunk. 15 We on the Commission would like to 16 be able to do more. Frankly there are 17 more calls coming in than we can field 18 currently. So we need your help. We 19 need to have an extra body there to be 20 able to help us do our work. The 21 Commission is moving, we're doing lots 22 of good work, but we need that kind of 23 basic tool. As it is we're effectively 24 functioning with one hand tied behind 25 our back. And that isn't tenable for a 8 1 Rabbi Fellman 2 community. So I'm more than willing to 3 answer any questions that you may have 4 or any concerns that you may have. But 5 I'm asking all of you, please see if you 6 can find a way at least on an interim 7 basis to find another person, a way to 8 put another person in that office so 9 that we can do the work that you all 10 have asked us to do. How's that for 11 time? 12 LEGISLATOR KNAPP: Perfect. 13 RABBI FELLMAN: Don't tell my 14 congregation, please. Any questions 15 that I can answer? Thank you. Thank 16 you for the ability to serve. We are 17 trying to do this work and trying to 18 really help our community grow. We need 19 your help to make that even more 20 possible. Thank you. 21 LEGISLATOR KNAPP: Thank you, very 22 much. 3:01, you set the standard here. 23 Excellent. So next we have Virginia 24 Carmody, with Mary Beth Frey on deck. 25 VIRGINIA CARMODY: Hello everyone. 9 1 Carmody 2 My name is Virginia Carmody and I thank 3 you for this opportunity to speak 4 tonight. As you know, I am the Executive 5 Director of the Literacy Coalition of 6 Onondaga County. We offer our vision of 7 100 percent literacy to a 100 percent 8 community engagement. A community 9 impact strategy that seeks to shape a 10 much more coordinated pipeline of 11 programs and services that support 12 children and their families. 13 I'm very proud that our efforts have 14 again been nationally recognized by the 15 Annie E. Casey Foundation-led Campaign 16 for Grade Level Reading as a Pacesetter 17 Community, and we were named a finalist 18 for the 2017 All-America City Award for 19 our progress in advancing early literacy. 20 The reality is that a staggering 85 21 percent of the Syracuse School District 22 3rd graders are not reading at grade 23 level. This 3rd grade milestone marks 24 the point when children shift from 25 learning to read and begin reading to 10 1 Carmody 2 learn. Students who have not mastered 3 reading by that time are more likely to 4 get stuck in a cycle of academic failure, 5 drop out of school, and struggle 6 throughout their lives, all at a cost 7 that their families and our community 8 cannot afford. 9 It's against this backdrop that we 10 launched Dolly Parton's Imagination 11 Library back in May of 2010 as a program 12 that not only provides books to children 13 but also establishes a system that is 14 targeted and measurable. With 15 unparalleled frequency and duration, new 16 age-appropriate books are mailed monthly 17 to enrolled from birth to age 5. 18 Through the leadership and support 19 from County Executive Mahoney and the 20 Onondaga County Legislature, we have now 21 expanded countywide. As of today we 22 have 14,258 children enrolled and 23 receiving books monthly. That brings us 24 to a total of nearly 350,000 Imagination 25 Library books distributed countywide. 11 1 Carmody 2 We have worked with over 150 community 3 referral partners, led by Onondaga 4 County Departments of Children and 5 Family Services, the Health Department, 6 along with all the local birthing 7 hospitals. 8 A number of research studies have 9 made a compelling case for early 10 education as a critical public investment. 11 Early literacy specifically, has proven 12 to be a reliable indicator of a child's 13 future success in school. When children 14 are not ready for school, we pay for 15 that lack of schedule readiness every 16 day. 17 Consequently, this has led to our 18 focus on the importance of regular 19 reading to children as a means to 20 develop necessary skills to enter 21 kindergarten ready to learn. Our ongoing 22 research led by LeMoyne College and the 23 Central New York Community Foundation 24 has shown significant positive results 25 for our Imagination Library Program, 12 1 Carmody 2 including the fact it has a positive 3 effect on family reading, regardless of 4 the child's age, gender, family income, 5 parental education, race, parental 6 nation of birth and primary language. 7 We also monitor enrolled children with 8 the use of an automated monthly database 9 stated dashboard and develop new 10 geocoding census tract maps. We target 11 as best we can. 12 We are thrilled to announce the 13 results from our researchers. They have 14 compared children who have received the 15 books for three or more years to 16 children that had not. Children in the 17 Program outperformed non-enrollees by 18 nearly 30 percent. Imagination Library 19 enrollees also outperformed the Onondaga 20 County average. Those results led to 21 the County's expanded support of 22 Imagination Library to all the children 23 in Onondaga County. 24 After we announced that expansion, 25 our enrollment increased from 4,555 13 1 Carmody 2 children in 2016 to now over 14,000 a 3 month. We average now over 500 new 4 enrollments every month. This past 5 month we had 560 new enrollees. Given 6 this accelerated rate of growth, actual 7 enrollment has significantly exceeded 8 our projections and led to this request 9 for additional funding. Utilizing our 10 new census tract enrollment maps, this 11 enables us to better target those 12 children living in both the City and in 13 more rural high need areas throughout 14 the County. 15 Our efforts would not be possible 16 without the help and support of many 17 others, especially those members of our 18 Leadership Council and our Managing 19 Partners, that's our Board of Directors. 20 With me tonight is Debbie Stack. She's 21 the Director of Education and Community 22 Engagement at WCNY, and Kevin Schwab, 23 the Vice-President of External Affairs 24 at CenterState CEO. We also work very 25 closely with our local school 14 1 Carmody 2 superintendents, including guidance for 3 many years from Dr. Donna DeSiato, East 4 Syracuse-Minoa School District, working 5 with Superintendent Jamie Alicia, 6 especially now that they have launched 7 an early literacy initiative that we're 8 working with them and supporting that 9 effort. And they're also working 10 closely with OCM BOCES Superintendent 11 Jody Manning. He has a perspective that 12 is very helpful. And we continue to 13 work closely with him in engaging more 14 school districts as well. 15 So I hope you agree that we are 16 targeted, ready and realistic about the 17 challenges before us. We know that 18 nothing is more basic, more essential, 19 more foundational, and more important to 20 a child's success in life than the 21 ability to read well. The ability to do 22 well in school, to function in school, 23 and then to function in the workforce. 24 Together, this is a problem we can solve 25 if we bring the entire community to bear 15 1 Frey 2 on the challenges that keep children 3 from reaching their full potential. 4 As you can probably tell, I'm very 5 passionate about this work and the 6 benefits of this Program for our 7 families in Onondaga County. But I'm 8 also very mindful that these public 9 resources must be deployed in the most 10 efficient and effective manner. So 11 again, thank you for your continued 12 investment in our efforts, and 13 especially Imagination Library. Thank 14 you. Any questions? 15 LEGISLATOR KNAPP: Thank you. So 16 next we have Mary Beth Frey, with John 17 Sindoni on deck. 18 MARY BETH FREY: Good evening. Thank 19 you for the opportunity to speak this 20 evening. My name is Mary Beth Frey, I'm 21 the Executive Director of the Samaritan 22 Center, and want to take just a couple 23 of minutes to talk to you about why 24 these funds are so important to the 25 Samaritan Center. 16 1 Frey 2 The Samaritan Center offers hot 3 nutritious meals 365 days a year, 4 serving more than 118,000 meals 5 annually, with the help of over 1,100 6 community volunteers a month dedicated 7 to assisting those most in need in our 8 community. We wrap those accessing 9 meals with direct case management 10 support as well as access to area human 11 service agencies on site. Both 12 activities offer the resources necessary 13 to move toward self-sufficiency and 14 decreased reliance on emergency food 15 services. Samaritan Center offers 16 assistance without questions or 17 pre-conditions, but rather on a model 18 that sees a relationships as the 19 fundamental building block of individual 20 community strength and success. 21 We know from data released last 22 month that Syracuse, as a city, ranks as 23 the 29th poorest in the nation, with 45 24 percent of children under 18 living in 25 poverty. 52 percent of children under 5 17 1 Frey 2 living in poverty. And just over 50 3 percent of Syracuse's estimated 4 population being unemployed at some 5 point in 2015. The Samaritan Center has 6 seen that data translated daily into the 7 concrete. An ever increasing number of 8 individuals seeking assistance and help, 9 not only for food but for the resources 10 that lead to positive next steps. 11 We start with a meal, a literal 12 breaking of bread that lays the 13 groundwork for what is perhaps the most 14 difficult work, the one-to-one 15 coordination assistance that links 16 individuals to the resources they need, 17 whether that be employment assistance, 18 health care, mental health assistance, 19 housing, shelter, parenting education 20 and support, veterans assistance. 21 Our model is not to duplicate 22 services, but to utilize the unique 23 environment that we create to enable 24 access to quality services that already 25 exist. In the hunger field, we often 18 1 Frey 2 talk about hunger not being a lack of 3 food in our communities, but a lack of 4 access to that food. 5 In many ways our case management and 6 support services program follows that 7 same theory. The strong web of resources 8 may be there in the community, but it is 9 the access that needs to be facilitated 10 for the folks that are in need. 11 At Samaritan over 2,500 individuals 12 and families are assisted annually 13 through one-to-one assistance and 14 coordination of agencies on site at the 15 Samaritan Center. Our case manager last 16 year coordinated over 219 agency visits 17 at the Center, drastically increasing 18 the likelihood that a connection with a 19 service would be successful. We are 20 pleased to count within that number the 21 Onondaga County Health Department Cancer 22 Screening and Lead Abatement Programs 23 who have been on site to assist us. 24 Our case management work provides 25 assistance with job applications, 19 1 Frey 2 interview preparation and resume 3 creation. Our partnership with the CNY 4 Diaper Bank allows the distribution of 5 diapers to our families with young 6 children, while we at the same time 7 facilitate access to the Healthy 8 Families Program, the Literacy Program 9 Imagination Library, and so many other 10 parenting supports. 11 With the ever increasing numbers of 12 individuals seeking emergency food 13 assistance, we have consistently seen a 14 10 percent increase annually in those 15 numbers. Our ability to support our 16 critical case management function is at 17 risk as more and more of our limited 18 resources are needed to cover the cost 19 of providing for a basic human need: 20 Food. 21 This appropriation will directly 22 support services linking the most 23 vulnerable in our community with the 24 resources they need to move toward a 25 life of self-sufficiency, not only 20 1 Sindoni 2 through the direct work involved but 3 through effectively and efficiently 4 making the concrete connections that are 5 needed. I appreciate your consideration 6 of this request, and of the thousands of 7 guests that we see each day, during this 8 most difficult decision. Thank you. 9 LEGISLATOR KNAPP: Thank you. And I 10 apologize if I mispronounce any names, 11 but we have John Sindoni next, with 12 comptroller Bob Antonacci on deck. 13 JOHN SINDONI: Thank you for this 14 opportunity. I happen to be President 15 of the Board of Samaritan Center. And I 16 volunteer on a weekly basis and have for 17 over 10 years, serving meals. I 18 certainly can't duplicate the passion 19 Mary Beth Frey had as our other speakers 20 did for their causes. 21 First of all, I think we're very 22 cognizant of the many constraints there 23 are in the money available to support 24 programs. But I would like to emphasize 25 something that Mary Beth touched on. 21 1 Sindoni 2 The Samaritan Center serves between 110 3 and 120,000 meals a year. They do it 4 with six staff members. They do it with 5 1,100 volunteers, and I would have to 6 bet many of you in the room have had the 7 opportunity to volunteer. 8 What this opportunity to gain funds 9 might do for them is to shift some of 10 the resources that's currently funding 11 these outreach programs to provide 12 additional food support. To put it in 13 perspective, an average meal at the 14 Samaritan Center costs between $1.60 and 15 $2.00 a day. I know we have a request 16 for $15,000, which, translates to nearly 17 10,000 meals. 18 So by allowing Mary Beth to adjust 19 her budget so that many more people we 20 can serve on a yearly basis. So again, 21 thank you for the time and thank you for 22 all you do for all the County and we 23 realize that you have many many demands. 24 We hope that you'll consider this 25 favorably. Thank you. 22 1 Antonacci 2 LEGISLATOR KNAPP: Thanks very much. 3 So next we have County Comptroller Bob 4 Antonacci, with Mark Burger on deck. 5 BOB ANTONACCI: Thank you, Chairman 6 Knapp, and members of the Legislature. 7 My name is Robert Antonacci, I'm your 8 County Comptroller, and I live in the 9 Town of Onondaga. 10 I have reached out to many of you in 11 the past week to discuss the 2018 12 Tentative Budget and the Ways and Means 13 Committee Report. I've spoken to many 14 of you, and for those I did speak with, 15 some of my comments may be redundant, 16 but they bear repeating. 17 After last year's unprecedented cuts 18 to the Comptroller's Office, the County 19 Executive has again sought to eliminate 20 the functioning of this Office. Last 21 year the Office of Comptroller was cut 22 over 16 percent. The next closest 23 elected was the Clerk's Office with 9 24 percent, while the County Executive and 25 the Legislature saw increases. 23 1 Antonacci 2 As it stands, the 2018 budget will 3 see a local dollar increase for the 4 County Executive's Office of 2 percent 5 and the District Attorney's office will 6 see a 5 percent increase. Yet as you 7 are aware, the Comptroller's Office was 8 disproportionately hit with an 8 percent 9 cut. 10 When I assumed the Office of 11 Comptroller we had 37 employees. If 12 this budget is left to stand, we will be 13 effectively funding a 24 person office. 14 In the same time period other areas of 15 County government have seen growth. 16 The hypocrisy does not end there. 17 Last year the Comptroller's Office saw 18 two employees leave per the early 19 retirement incentive program. As in 20 many other departments, these positions 21 were eliminated. But some favored 22 departments under the County Executive 23 did not face a similar fate. Some 24 retirees even continued to work. In the 25 2018 budget, a full year after these 24 1 Antonacci 2 individuals retired, the County 3 Executive continues to employ a retiree 4 who took the $l0,000 retirement incentive. 5 In others areas of a Tentative 6 Budget, certain favored individuals are 7 seeing step and grade increases. These 8 bonuses appear to have no rhyme nor 9 reason. One such bonus is going to a 10 new employee who is taking on half the 11 responsibility of her predecessor. 12 Failure to restore funding for the 13 Comptroller's Office will result in a 14 staffing level of approximately 24, down 15 from 37. The area of gravest concern is 16 our general accounting division, with 17 potential retirements looming on the 18 horizon we face a staff cut from six 19 accountants down to two. We cannot 20 carry out our mission with two 21 accountants to review a $1.3 billion 22 budget and all of the transactions that 23 it entails. I urge the Legislature to 24 restore the $245,000 request to our 101 25 line, so the Comptroller's Office can 25 1 Burger 2 continue to do its chartered bound 3 duties. Thank you. 4 LEGISLATOR KNAPP: Thank you. Next 5 we have Mark Burger from the Soil and 6 Water Conservation District. And on 7 deck will be Tom Law. 8 MARK BURGER: Good evening. Mark 9 Burger, the Executive Director of the 10 Onondaga County Soil and Water 11 Conservation District. And I'm here 12 tonight to ask you to please strongly 13 consider not making any cuts to the 14 budget of the Agricultural Council or 15 the Soil and Water Conservation 16 District. The funding that we receive 17 helps us to protect water quality. And 18 now with the recent outbreak of blue 19 green algae on Skaneateles Lake it's 20 more important than ever. 21 The funding you provide us through 22 the Agricultural Council helps us to 23 leverage additional grant funds to 24 install conservation practices on farms 25 and on municipal public properties like 26 1 Burger 2 road ditches and parks. For every 3 dollar that you have allocated to us 4 through the Agriculture Council, we 5 returned $19.46 return on investment. 6 That money has gone to help 76 farms 7 install 375 Best Management Practices to 8 reduce non-point source pollution of 9 water in the County. We're the only 10 organization that does this; the true 11 boots on the ground services. 12 Just last Friday night at 6 o'clock 13 we got a phone call for a motor vehicle 14 accident involving an agricultural truck, 15 and it spilled 12 tons of corn silage 16 into the west branch of Onondaga Creek. 17 We worked Friday night and responded 18 Saturday morning in the safety of 19 daylight to help get that spill response 20 coordinated, get that silage out of the 21 stream, so that there was no 22 contravention of water quality, no fish 23 kills, and no additional pollution going 24 into Onondaga Lake. 25 We do all this with a limited, 27 1 Law 2 dedicated staff of conservation minded 3 professionals, with their only goal of 4 protecting the environment. Please give 5 your strongest review to the need to cut 6 the Agricultural Council or the Soil and 7 Water Conservation District budget in 8 2018. Thank you. Any questions? 9 LEGISLATOR KNAPP: Thanks, Mark. 10 And our last signed in speaker is Tom 11 Law. 12 TOM LAW: We'll break out the ice 13 cream we've got all night now, right? 14 No one wants to get out of here, do they? 15 This is for somebody who's connected to 16 the soil in here. Has my time started? 17 LEGISLATOR KNAPP: I will redo it. 18 Go ahead. 19 TOM LAW: As a body responsible for 20 local taxes and County regulations 21 regarding your homework on land use, 22 I've done some homework on land use. 23 Here's my evidence right here. It's 24 about a third of an inch. Regarding 25 your homework on land use, open land, so 28 1 Law 2 forth, making regulations to vacant, 3 abandoned land, farmland; thousands of 4 acres possibly of County real property. 5 Hyland Forest has to be pretty big. I 6 don't know if it's 300 acres. 7 Considerably I'm here mostly about 8 soil. And there is not much soil here. 9 Can the soil stand up? I don't see any 10 soil standing. I don't know what that 11 means. I guess I'm the non-elected 12 representative of the soil. And it's 13 not even here in the cash prices for 14 today's Wall Street Journal doesn't have 15 soil in there. I don't think it ever 16 has soil in the cash prices of the Wall 17 Street Journal. 18 But here's a little trinity for you. 19 From the land to the yield to the 20 nutrition; little triangle there. From 21 the land, to the yield to the nutrition. 22 Doesn't have that in the Wall Street 23 Journal either. Yield. It does have 24 prices but it doesn't really have yield. 25 Now from 1859, James Geddes, who was 29 1 Law 2 I believe the same guy that surveyed 3 down near Hiawatha Boulevard and some 4 canal work, maybe a different Geddes, I 5 think it's probably the same, from a 6 master's thesis in 1986 Farm Fields so 7 forth master's thesis at SU. 8 Geddes: Any discussion of the 9 obstacles, am I reading the right page 10 here? Okay, encountered by local 11 farmers was moved to comment. The 12 difficulties rather, encountered was 13 moved to comment. This is 1859 page 346. 14 The great and overshadowing obstacle in 15 our way is the ever present armies of 16 insects, destructive to every crop we 17 raise. 1859. If it were not for the 18 destructive insects we might dismiss 19 every fear... for even that thing 20 dreaded by the theorists, the 21 deterioration of the soil. Wow. Are 22 there any theorists in here on the 23 deterioration of the soil? I don't 24 think so. 25 I might kind of step into that a 30 1 Law 2 little bit, but not very far. So, is 3 the soil here deteriorating? This soil 4 and conservation guy, Mark, was just up 5 here. And I'm going to challenge Soil 6 and Water Conservation to do some more 7 work on erosion. Because 175 years ago 8 they were worried about erosion, 9 especially of plowed land. And corn is 10 not like a cover crop. Corn is usually 11 plowed in, although some are doing 12 non-till. Erosion ideally, according to 13 Soil and Water Conservation records from 14 over twenty years ago might be below one 15 ton per acre per year, ideally. And 16 plowed land it can be eight tons per 17 acre per year. Eight tons per year. 18 Multiply that by 10 years and you've got 19 80 tons per acre. Multiply that by 50 20 acres. And you've got some number that 21 we can't truck out of here. 22 Okay, erosion, soil deterioration. 23 What else is deteriorating the soil? 24 I'll tell you. Acid rain. Charley 25 Driscoll studied it for like 15 years at 31 1 Law 2 SU and has all types of documentation, 3 but who raises acid rage anymore? Do 4 you think it went away? Do you think 5 it's not leaching the humus matter out 6 of the soil? Why do you think the yards 7 are so dry here with no rain for two 8 weeks. 9 If you got humic matter, 3 percent 10 humic matter in soil makes organic soil. 11 3 percent humic matter. It contains 12 moisture. At night you don't think that 13 moisture, some of it rises? Even into 14 the grass and the mist. Okay, let's 15 move on. 16 Historically, 38 percent of the 17 lands now are farmlands. That's like 18 170,000 acres. A lot of it is dairy 19 land now in Onondaga County. Out of 20 like 770 square miles, it's like 38 21 percent. It was over 90 percent 150 22 years ago. Now we're at 38 percent. 23 It's not a lot of vegetable growers 24 either; a lot of that is dairy. 25 What about dairy? For the last 70 32 1 Law 2 years milk price dynamics have been 3 awful. Despite the store expansions of 4 some Byrne, the Byrne 53 stores or 70 5 stores, milk dynamics are horrible. 6 I've been following it for twenty years, 7 because I'm from dairy folk. 8 What else? Commercial vegetable 9 growers. How many are left in Onondaga 10 County? Here we're talking about food 11 security, okay? We've been talking 12 about food security. How many 13 commercial vegetable growers are left of 14 the 8,500 that were here in 1880? 8,500 15 farmers. Now, commercial vegetable 16 growers in Onondaga County I think is 17 probably around 20. 20. Reeves is a 18 good one. Kubecka in East Syracuse is a 19 good one. I mean there are other ones. 20 Emmi's, okay, they have a packing house. 21 There is no packing house for small 22 growers in Onondaga County. 23 Okay where are we going from here? 24 I'm maintaining that our soil is at a 25 continual price. And we're not even 33 1 Law 2 following what the erosion factors are 3 on plowed land. I don't know what's in 4 the budget for Soil and Water to follow 5 erosion, but I doubt it's much. And I 6 don't know how hard it is, it might not 7 be terribly hard, but it's probably a 8 little bit complicated with equations 9 and runoff and presence in the field. 10 So I'm arguing for that in the budget. 11 But that isn't the only thing about 12 soils. I mean there is hundreds of 13 types of soils right in Onondaga County. 14 It's not like some easy equation. And 15 where are all the farmers? We've got a 16 legacy of farmers now, young farmers 17 that we can tap. I signed up as a 18 volunteer at the Brady Farm down in the 19 Valley here in the city about 2:00 p.m. 20 Because I got 11 years of growing 21 organic vegetable with Grindstone Farms. 22 Well, that's nice. But I don't know 23 enough. Does anybody here know how many 24 aphids, or one aphid gives birth to in 25 its lifetime. An aphid, about the color 34 1 Law 2 of this. An aphid. Little tiny aphid 3 under the leaf. I was told by one of 4 the best organic farmers around here, 5 Lulu Lagoe, last Sunday, that one aphid 6 when it's born has babies in its belly. 7 And one aphid can make one trillion 8 aphids in its lifetime. 9 One insect, that Geddes is talking 10 about as being, you know, on us. And 11 catch this, I know I've got to end here 12 soon, but I gave for use in Grindstone 13 Farm, I think they're still on their 14 shelf up there in their office. And 15 they've been at this since 1980s, 16 growing vegetables. I believe it's a 17 1940 year book of Agriculture. It's 18 about 500 pages. Guess what the 500 19 pages is about, that year it was 20 dedicated. Plant diseases. 450 pages 21 maybe on plant, various plant diseases. 22 You think I know all that stuff? There 23 is no -- it's crazy how much there is to 24 know about farming. Okay, so where are 25 we going from here. 35 1 Law 2 LEGISLATOR KNAPP: I've given you 3 your time plus the balance of everyone 4 else in this room, so wrap it up, 5 appreciate it. 6 TOM LAW: So we've got soil, health, 7 erosion. We've got common reeds 8 obstructing your view in traffic. There 9 a rise on the plant, you know some 10 people called them devil reeds, they're 11 all over the place. They're blocking 12 the vision on Onondaga Lake Parkway. 13 They're trying to deal with it. No one 14 has got a handle on it. It's not an 15 invasive species as such, it's from 16 America. But it's right -- it grows and 17 it follows waters and it's growing like 18 crazy. Was there anything in the budget 19 to control, look at control of the 20 common reeds? 21 Okay, so what is the budget issue 22 this year? The budget issue here is, 23 let's bring some dirt into the chambers, 24 you know. Some good clean, honest, pure 25 sun drenched, water drenched dirt. 36 1 Law 2 Because it needs some attention. There 3 are no farmers. You can't take care of 4 a hundred acres. You really can't take 5 care of a hundred acres. It's tough 6 enough taking care of two acres. You've 7 got to have people to do that. 8 And $2.79 a pound isn't enough for a 9 lot of the vegetables out there if 10 people are going to live. So I know 11 your thoroughly impressed. I'll go away. 12 LEGISLATOR KNAPP: Thank you, very 13 much. There will be a lot of dirt at 14 the Lafayette Apple Festival this 15 weekend, starting 9 o'clock Saturday 16 morning. Are there any other speakers? 17 Okay, come forward, please. Could you 18 sign in right over here. So Hassan 19 Ibrahim would like to speak. Between 20 three and five minutes, appreciate it. 21 And right over here at the podium. 22 HASSAN IBRAHIM: Hello everybody. 23 My name is Hassan Ibrahim. I'm coming 24 from a community that is voiceless, and 25 I live on the north side. I've always 37 1 Ibrahim 2 been interested in getting involved in 3 issues that are happening in the County. 4 I've been volunteering a lot for 5 campaigns and all that, etc. And I know 6 a little bit about the County issues and 7 budget. And I'm too young to know that. 8 One of the issues that I wanted to 9 address here, just want to picture in 10 your mind is that I also came from 11 another state, from Indianapolis. My 12 family moved here and then I started a 13 community that was so desperate. And 14 one of the things that I want to give 15 you as an example. Is that most of the 16 refugees they are, they lease houses 17 under the government, they don't speak 18 English. And the children go to school. 19 Some walk to school. There is buses. 20 And I came from a school where I was 21 going to that was less than a mile, I 22 was riding a bus. Now we have an issue 23 in the city, like I have said, knowing 24 these people, why they don't have a bus. 25 Every year that the children crossing 38 1 Ibrahim 2 the street when there is snowing, the 3 parents don't have transportation. They 4 walk to schools. And whenever I go to 5 school and ask them why they cannot have 6 the bus, they said, well they live by 7 the school. It's okay if the children's 8 parents have transportation or not. 9 So one of the things I want to push 10 for sure and put it on the table was 11 that how about we focus on transportation. 12 People with no transportation. That are 13 you know, their kids go to school. Some 14 have a job, but still, some days they 15 stay home because they don't have 16 transportation. So that's one part of 17 it that I want to put out there. 18 And I was elected director of CNY 19 Somali Community. Somali, we know where 20 they are, they live in Syracuse. We 21 heard their names, but we don't know if 22 they have community or organization. 23 But they've been going for a while since 24 2013. I came here in 2015. And I 25 happen to be more mindful educated and 39 1 Ibrahim 2 care for the community. And the people 3 that are in charge were a lack of 4 understanding each other and a lack of 5 leadership. And I got to be involved 6 with trying to make more connections and 7 get in all of this. 8 So basically it is non-profit 9 organization. Asking the government for 10 something is not, we are, it's not 11 embarrassing but it's part of the job 12 that the government does. 13 So, and there is another organization 14 and I also want to put that on the line, 15 on the table too, that is called New 16 American Women Empowerment, lead by 17 Khadijo Abdulkadir, an incredible young 18 woman that goes to the University, the 19 Syracuse University, majoring in 20 international relations. 21 And she came up with the idea of New 22 American Women Empowerment so that she 23 can empower young women. The thing that 24 she does, is that I helped her open her 25 office early this summer, in July, is 40 1 Ibrahim 2 that she opened New American for 3 children that needs help, for education, 4 for tutoring, for parents and adults 5 that don't speak English and want to 6 learn the civics. We help them do those 7 too. These are people with no education 8 we help them to speak English. We have 9 people with broken English helping build 10 a resume. We do the small things. 11 Those are small things that are very 12 important. It's a job that you guys 13 have to look into doing it. 14 So I want to say thank you for 15 making this meeting, having it, and I 16 want to say thank you so much for 17 letting me speak. Thank you. 18 LEGISLATOR KNAPP: Thank you. Any 19 other speakers who have not signed in? 20 With that I will declare the comment 21 period closed. Are there any additional 22 comments from individual Legislators? 23 Chairman, any final comment? 24 CHAIRMAN McMAHON: No. 25 LEGISLATOR KNAPP: Before I close, 41 1 Knapp 2 just like to let you know what the 3 process is from here. So this public 4 hearing is on the Ways and Means 5 Recommended Budget. So the next step 6 and final step is there will be a full 7 session of the Legislature on Tuesday at 8 1:00 p.m., where individual Legislators 9 can put forward amendments to the Ways 10 and Means Budget. And those will be 11 voted on, and if they are approved then 12 they become part of the Budget; if not, 13 they're not. And then the Final Budget 14 will be approved on Tuesday at that 15 meeting. So that's what's left in the 16 process. 17 Couple of quick thank you's. Been a 18 long and very condensed process this 19 time around. And a lot of late nights 20 for a lot of folks. Like to thank our 21 County Chief Financial Officer, Steve 22 Morgan, and our Deputy Budget Director 23 Tara Venditti, for all their work. Jim 24 Maturo from the Comptroller's Office, 25 sitting in on the meetings and answering 42 1 Knapp 2 any questions that we had for him. 3 And then most importantly our 4 Legislature staff, led by our Clerk 5 Debbie Maturo, who put in lots and lots 6 and lots of extra hours this time of 7 year. And the rest of the staff, Darcie 8 Lesniak, Debbie Cominsky, Bill Kinne, 9 Jamie McNamara, Katherine French and 10 Nick Paro. 11 And then most importantly, our 12 budget expert, Susan Stanczyk, who at 13 this time of year her dog barks when she 14 gets home because it hasn't seen her in 15 so long, and does an incredible job, all 16 the work she does for us. And she has 17 to write all the amendments. And no 18 matter how ridiculous they may be, she 19 does them professionally and does it 20 very well. So thank you very much to 21 everyone. And with that, hearing that 22 there are no further speakers wishing to 23 be heard, I declare the public hearing 24 closed. 25 * * * * 43 1 2 C E R T I F I C A T E 3 This is to certify that I am a 4 Certified Shorthand Reporter and Notary 5 Public in and for the State of New York, 6 that I attended and reported the above 7 entitled proceedings, that I have 8 compared the foregoing with my original 9 minutes taken therein and that it is a 10 true and correct transcript thereof and 11 all of the proceedings had therein. 12 13 _______________________ 14 John F. Drury, CSR, RPR 15 16 Dated: October 9, 2017 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25