Syracuse committee weighs adding unpaid BAA fines to property tax bills

City of Syracuse officials and councilors discussed a proposal to amend local law so unpaid fines and penalties assessed by the city's Bureau of Administrative Adjudication (BAA) could be placed on property tax bills.

Leah, director and chief administrative law judge for the Bureau of Administrative Adjudication, said the BAA was created locally in 2018 to provide a faster administrative path to address noncompliant property code violations and that "The BAA's authority is just for, issuing civil fines and penalties, and nothing more than that." She told the committee the bureau has struggled to collect those fines under current mechanisms.

The proposal would add a tax-rollover collection mechanism similar to other city charges that are put on tax bills. City staff described the change as a tool to encourage compliance with housing and property maintenance codes and to recover unpaid penalties that otherwise remain unpaid until a property sale triggers a tax search.

Why it matters: Councilors and staff said the change is intended to help the city collect penalties that now frequently go unpaid, and to provide leverage against chronic noncompliant owners. One councilor said "we have a million dollars sitting on the table that we could potentially recoup," referencing staff calculations of fines and defaults.

How the BAA process works: Code enforcement issues a notice of violation with a comply-by date; if the owner does not comply, the inspector can issue a legal warning letter and ultimately refer the case to the BAA. BAA tickets carry individual fines for each violation and are served by certified mail; property owners may pay, request a hearing, or default. City staff said roughly 50'60% of property owners default (do not enter a plea), about 25'30% request hearings, and roughly 20% pay without requesting a hearing. Staff also said hearings increase the likelihood of compliance.

Numbers and timeline cited by staff: As of the fiscal-year period through Jan. 22 presented at the meeting, the administration reported a little over $1,000,000 in fines and penalties issued and roughly 3,721 individual tickets generated across about 1,353 complaints referred this fiscal year. Inspectors aim to refer cases to the BAA about 30 days after the comply-by date, a schedule staff described as about 45 calendar days from the initial citation when inspectors follow procedure.

Collection limits and legal background: Staff described two existing collection paths: filing judgments in local courts (which costs about $51 per filing and is labor-intensive) or using a statutory tax-rollover mechanism in state law (Real Property Tax Law, RPTL) that Syracuse cannot currently use because of drafting that assumed a judicial tax-foreclosure process Syracuse does not follow. The administration said it has worked with Assemblyman Magnarelli's office to amend state legislation but has not secured a change, and therefore is proposing a local-law amendment and a corresponding ordinance change to the Syracuse Property Conservation Code (SPCC) to enable a tax rollover at the municipal level going forward.

Staff rationale: Leah and deputies said the goal is compliance, not revenue generation. "We just want people to fix. So, the goal is compliance," Leah said. City staff argued that rolling unpaid BAA fines onto tax bills would create an incentive to address violations sooner and allow the city to recoup penalties without paying per-case court filing fees.

Councilor concerns and safeguards discussed: Several councilors pressed staff on safeguards for homeowners who may be elderly, have limited capacity, or have not reliably received mailed notices. Councilors asked whether additional steps could be added before a tax rollover and whether staff would notify district councilors about cases at risk of rollover. Staff responded that the city already serves certified mail, posts notices at properties, allows hearings at multiple stages (in person, virtual, or on papers), and provides extensions and referral options (for example, loans or community ambassador assistance) where appropriate. Ryan Shield, director of code enforcement, told the committee inspectors try to refer cases within 30 days past the comply-by date and that "essentially that'd be 45 days after it was initially cited."

Overlap with other enforcement paths: Staff provided referral counts to show how many cases go to each pathway: 3,544 open complaints with codes this fiscal cycle; 2,092 complaints referred to the BAA; 127 complaints referred to the law department; and 48 complaints referred to both the BAA and law at different times. Staff said only a small portion of cases go to court because housing court calendars and legal capacity limit how many cases the law department can pursue.

Next steps discussed: Staff said the proposed change would require a local-law amendment and an ordinance update to the SPCC, would go on the council agenda for at least one cycle, and then be enacted to apply going forward. If approved, staff said they would not apply the rollover retroactively to cases before enactment. The administration estimated that, after adoption and any required state coordination, the earliest tax-rollover season to apply the change would be May 2026. Staff also agreed to provide an additional notice to councilors listing properties at risk of rollover and to compile legal-warning-letter lists for council review.

No final vote: The meeting record shows discussion and an agreement to pursue drafting and notification steps; no formal council vote or ordinance adoption occurred during the session.

Local context and limitations: Staff and councilors emphasized limits on what the BAA can do (civil fines and penalties only), practical constraints of inspector and attorney capacity, and the city's obligation to allow administrative hearings and consider proof of compliance or owner hardship. Staff noted that decision orders are statutory liens by operation of local statute but are not recorded with the county clerk unless converted into a court judgment, which is why many penalties remain unpaid until a sale triggers a tax search.

The committee asked staff to return with draft language, suggested additional notice steps for councilors, and proposed continued data analysis and a stakeholder conversation about how fine levels and collection procedures should be structured if the rollover mechanism is added.