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Syracuse City budget hearing: permit surge, rental‑registry gaps and push to restore third‑party plan‑review funding
Summary
City staff told councilors that permit volume and construction valuation have surged and urged restoring third‑party plan‑review funds to speed approvals. Councilors probed staffing counts, rental‑registry compliance (~50%), lead‑hazard grant staffing and several line‑item questions, including postage and demolition funding.
Syracuse City held a budget hearing for the Department of Neighborhood and Business Development’s Code Enforcement division, where staff said rising permit volume and large commercial projects have strained in‑house plan‑review capacity and prompted a request to restore third‑party review funding.
Jake Dishaw, who led the department presentation, told councilors the city issues about "4,000 permits total a year" and said construction valuation has climbed to record levels. "We broke an all time high in 2022, 2024, and last year in 2025 at over 430,000,000 in construction dollars spent in the city of Syracuse," Dishaw said, adding that outside reviewers shortened turnaround from weeks or months to days or weeks for major projects.
Dishaw asked councilors to reinstate part of the third‑party plan‑review budget the department reduced last year. "We're asking that this be put back into the budget for a number of reasons," he said, arguing third‑party reviewers let the city process…
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