Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh’s administration wants to change the city’s code to no longer pick up garbage for properties with more than four residential units. The city currently draws the limit at more than ten units. But the proposal was withdrawn after some city councilors rejected it. Speaking at a council meeting last week, Syracuse Chief Operating Officer Corey Driscoll Dunham said other cities consider 3-4 residential units on a property as commercial and there is no justification to keep it at ten, other than this is how it’s always been done.
“These are revenue-generating properties, residents are subsidizing this service for these operations and we think that they should be required to get a private hauler and no longer get the pick-up service from DPW,” Driscoll Dunham said.
But Councilor Joe Carni said just because other cities do it, doesn’t mean Syracuse should. “These folks are paying taxes, that’s part of the services they get,” Carni said. “My concern then becomes, are we going to have more people that want to get out of the business that might be a decent landlord with six or seven units?”
The change could affect more than 370 potential properties and save the city more than $300,000 annually. Councilor Michael Greene, who opposes the change, said those property owners could end up paying $1 million for private garbage collection.