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Mary Robertson tells Syracuse City councilors engineering is understaffed and details $100 million school phase and I‑81 consultant costs
Summary
Mary Robertson, representing Syracuse City's engineering department, told councilors the department has 21 staff with vacancies and is managing dozens of projects, including Phase A of a $400 million, 10-school renovation (about $100 million for three schools). She said $54,000 for a legal land expert and $135,000 for a zoning consultant were added for I‑81 land-control work and are funded from the department budget.
Mary Robertson of Syracuse City's engineering department told councilors during a budget briefing that the department has 21 staff "but we do have a few vacancies" and that each division is handling roughly 35 to 40 projects in design or construction.
Robertson outlined three divisions: a building division that manages capital work at city-owned facilities such as fire, police, schools, city hall and parks; a design and construction division that handles street right-of-way work (sewers, roads, sidewalks, paving and bridges/culverts) and stormwater permit reviews; and a mapping and surveying division that performs surveys and maintains right-of-way and property records.
"We're 21 people," Robertson said. She noted the department is actively recruiting to fill vacancies and that some positions included in the budget are budgeted for fewer months because of midyear hiring or previous budget cuts.
Robertson also described the city's large capital program for schools. "We're in phase A of four phases of our $400 million 10 school renovation," she said, adding the department is designing the first three schools at a cost of roughly $100 million for that phase.
Councillors pressed Robertson on changes in the operating budget. When a councillor asked why the professional services line on page 117 had nearly tripled, Robertson said, "The big increase is for the legal land expert for $54,000 and a zoning consultant for $135,000," and that those contracts are related to the I‑81 project. When asked whether outside funding covered those consultant costs, Robertson answered, "We do not," indicating the engineering budget would bear them.
A councillor also noted the contracted services line fell from $78,000 to zero; Robertson (via staff) said that reflected a named SURA employee who is no longer employed and therefore that line no longer appears in the budget.
On employee supplies, Robertson clarified that uniform allowances are covered in union and middle-manager contracts (cited in the transcript as CSEA and middle managers) while boots are budgeted separately under another line (408).
The briefing concluded with no recorded votes on budget items in the transcript. The council moved for a short recess; the transcript records a motion to take a break and return, with no formal outcome recorded.
