SYRACUSE - Syracuse Town Council members made swift work of their agenda Tuesday evening, including adopting the 2025 budget.
The council voted to waive the public reading of the budget, but copies were available for the public.
Councilman Larry Siegel asked the clerk-treasurer what the regulations state as far as the reading of the budget, and she responded that she wasn’t required to read it, but she could. However, the motion to waive the reading stood.
The proposed total budget is $6,611,047, which is $495,971 more than the 2024 budget of $6,115,076. Increases include $83,464 in the clerk’s budget, $8,400 in the town manager’s budget and $84,910 in the police department budget for a total increase in the general budget of $176,774.
The motor vehicle/streets budget will increase $61,200 and the park board increase is $43,000. The certified net assessed value for 2025 is $366,886,910 and the estimated tax impact from circuit breaker is $22,000. The estimated tax rate per $100 assessed value is $0.756 and for 2024 the estimated tax rate was $0.813 — a decrease of 6.9811%.
A public hearing was held on the confirmatory resolution for tax abatement for Shore Capital Ventures, LLC, the developer that is rehabilitating the former Polar Kraft or Sea Nymph facility on Chicago Street.
Attorney Stephen Snyder was present representing Shore Capital Venture LLC and asked for the public hearing, but no one from the public commented.
At last month’s meeting, Snyder said they anticipate having to invest $4 million in improvements. He said the developer’s goal is to lease property to multiple tenants for industrial use of the 225,000-square-foot facility. He said the assessed value is a little over $1 million and he believes that is mainly because of the 18-acre property, adjacent to the railroad.
He said listing new employees is a little hard because they’ll be dealing with future tenants but the 30 employees currently at the location will be retained, and they think once they development is complete could have up to 200 employees.
The council approved the confirming resolution for the 10-year tax abatement.
An economic development agreement and amendment and declaratory resolution for Storie Real Estate for lot 7 in the Syracuse Technology Park was tabled due to the fact that it had Elkhart County listed as the entity giving the tax abatement.
Siegel pointed out that the town of Syracuse is the one giving the abatement, and since the change has to be approved by the redevelopment commission before the council approves it, the matter was tabled until next month.
Jeremy Hardy, of Commonwealth Engineers, gave a report to the council, including that they received one bid for the Kern Road project, which is an extension of sanitary sewers to the recently annexed area and replacing failing sanitary sewers.
The sole bidder was Beer & Slabaugh, Nappanee, with a bid of $299,866.15, which Hardy said was below the engineer’s estimate. He recommended the council award the bid to Beer & Slabaugh and they approved the award 4-0 with Council President Nathan Scherer not voting.
The council also approved the notice to proceed, giving them 120 days to complete the project. In a related matter, they approved a task order with Commonwealth for the construction phase of the project at a cost of $12,500.
Hardy also reported several ongoing projects like the water asset management plan and Lakeside Drive were nearing completion.
Utilities Superintendent Mark Aurich informed the council that while Beer & Slabaugh was working on a project in town they found a storm sewer connected to a sanitary sewer. Aurich said he needed to make the decision and had them correct the situation at a cost of $22,220. He said normally the cost would’ve been closer to $50,000.
The council approved paying the cost and Siegel commended Aurich stating, “I’m glad you made that decision.”
Scherer asked if there was a way to avoid this in the future by using GIS (Geographic Information Systems), for example. Aurich said they amended the GIS and said historically Syracuse has had combined systems and spent a lot of money separating them and he felt that finding an individual case was better than many communities who find whole blocks.
Later in the meeting, Siegel asked about fire hydrant locks for the tech park and Aurich said the order has been delayed due to supply chain issues so for the short-term they’ll be putting on standard locks this week.
Under old business, Councilman Bill Musser said that at the last meeting they voted to approve changing the council meeting time to 10 a.m. Musser said after the meeting, other council members expressed they felt rushed and were unsure they made the right decision so he made a motion to reverse that decision and keep the meeting times at 7 p.m. on the third Tuesdays of the month.
Siegel seconded the motion and the council approved 4-0 with Scherer not voting.
Scherer was asked after the meeting why he was not voting on any of the matters at hand and he said as council president he doesn’t have to vote. He said Republican Chair Mike Ragan asked him why he had abstained on some votes and informed him that the council president usually doesn’t vote, just presides over the meeting. He said he could vote, but doesn’t need to unless it is to break a tie so he decided he wants to observe proper procedures.
In other business, the council:
• Approved turn-out gear for a firefighter from Conway Shield at a cost of $3,995.
• Approved security system for new annex building at a cost of $13,900 from FSS Technologies.
• Approved an ordinance adding a stop sign at Oakwood Circle Drive and Lake Drive, creating a three-way stop in all directions.
• Heard recent park events went well and upcoming events on Oct. 26 include Trick or Treat Trail from 1-3 p.m. at Lakeside Park and Haunted Trail at Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation from 6:30-9 p.m.
They also heard that park restrooms are being winterized and locked for the winter.