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Record of Proceedings

Syracuse City Council Budget Hearing for Bureau of Accounts - April 13, 2026

Public Meetings — Monday, April 13, 2026

BodySyracuse, New York

SessionPublic Meetings

DateMonday, April 13, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 17:46

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

0:00

All right, good morning, everybody.

0:02

Welcome back.

0:03

Um today we've got four hearings that are our conversations around the financial arm of the corporation.

0:11

Um we're starting off this morning with the Bureau of Accounts.

0:15

Um I am joined by Councillor Zernric, Jones Rauser, Moore, Nave, President Paniagua, um, Councillor Monto, and then Nestry and Kristen Bennett from our finance department.

0:27

Um we're gonna start off on page 89.

0:31

Uh but before we kind of jump into the numbers, do you want to just give us an overview of what you're doing while we're here?

0:38

Uh certainly when we think about the the finances of the organization.

0:43

Um arguably to me one of the most critical and uh very important as we move forward with the next couple weeks of discussions around the budget and our fiscal sustainability.

0:56

Yeah, hi, good morning.

0:58

Um thank you for that nice introduction.

1:00

Yes, I'm Diane Nestry, and I've stepped up as the commissioner of finance um just this past month.

1:07

So new in the role, but I've been around the city of Syracuse since 2016.

1:13

Um very excited about this opportunity, and I'm already amazed at all of the things that the team is capable of and does being in this seat.

1:22

I'm seeing a lot of how we work as a team, and I just wanted to give uh an appreciation of all the efforts that the team is making.

1:30

Um yeah, we we're gonna go over Bureau of Accounts.

1:33

This is where all the transactions for the city of Syracuse is accounted for in our uh finance system.

1:40

We also oversee all of the bank accounts and transactions as well as doing any reconciliations and helping set up projects.

1:49

Any other activity indicators high level that we do that I'm missing?

1:54

We kind of do something with the audit.

1:56

Yeah, put together the financial statements for the audit.

1:58

That's a good collapse.

2:00

Uh maybe one of the biggest things we do.

2:03

Uh, and we help uh go to bond every year for the projects to uh replenish our spending, replenish our funds.

2:16

Great, thank you.

2:23

Yeah.

2:24

Um I forgot how we do things.

2:28

Fair enough.

2:29

Our goal is to sustain operations.

2:32

Um we did our best to align with last year's budget.

2:39

So as you can see here, let's see.

2:41

Our total BOA adopted budget for fiscal 26 is about $839,000, and we actually somehow squeezed the stone and got it down just under 180 20,000 or 1820,000, excuse me.

2:59

For uh fiscal 27 proposed.

3:02

So the difference in salaries because it's less this year, yet there's the same amount of people, and how do you come up with that number?

3:12

So we had a vacancy that we reduced.

3:16

We had two accountant threes budgeted, so that went down.

3:19

Um we also did a slight reduction in one of our vacant positions for the deputy commissioner.

3:24

This was a new role last year that we presented to you uh to the counselors and to the mayor's office to be funded.

3:31

We have not yet filled it.

3:33

Um but it's it is in your numbers, right?

3:36

Because it says I mean the numbers here don't change by anything.

3:40

The the staffing, yeah.

3:42

Yep, we're maintaining.

3:43

We are maintaining.

3:44

Um we were just able to reduce some of the salary lines, uh salary amounts.

3:49

Okay, okay.

3:50

And I think yeah.

4:01

Is that because there's new people?

4:04

Um we've had two vacancies in BOA as now an accountant three and an accountant one.

4:13

Uh we funded the accountant one.

4:15

We're only funding for one accountant three instead of two this year.

4:19

We've also reduced, like I had mentioned that deputy commissioner salary, as well as a commissioner's salary.

4:27

Okay.

4:30

And if you definitely, if you want a more detailed comparison, I can definitely send something up after this meeting.

4:36

I thought it went legislator was wrong.

4:38

Oh because I mean you win now.

4:41

Well, if you want to give us more funding, we will take it and we will run with it.

4:47

Thank you.

4:52

This was created last year in the budget, however, I I uh for about a year.

4:58

It's been open for about a year.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Fiscal Sustainability█████████████████████████████████████████████65%

Procurement████████████18%

Procedural██████9%

Budget Equity Analysis██████8%

Summary of Proceedings

Syracuse City Council Budget Hearing for Bureau of Accounts - April 13, 2026

The Syracuse City Council held a budget hearing for the Bureau of Accounts (BOA) on April 13, 2026. The meeting was chaired by a council member and included Finance Commissioner Diane Nestry, who presented the department's proposed budget for fiscal year 2027. The discussion focused on the proposed budget reduction, staffing vacancies, revenue challenges, and opportunities for operational efficiencies.

Discussion Items

Budget Overview: The BOA's adopted budget for fiscal year 2026 was approximately $839,000. The proposed FY27 budget is about $820,000, a reduction of $19,000. Commissioner Nestry attributed the decrease to fewer funded positions: one accountant three vacancy was removed, and the deputy commissioner salary (a new role unfilled for a year) was reduced, along with the commissioner's salary.
Staffing and Vacancies: The department currently has two vacancies (accountant three and accountant one). The FY27 budget funds only one accountant three instead of two. The deputy commissioner position remains unfilled. Out-of-title pay covers interim responsibilities, including Nestry's transition from assistant director to commissioner.
Interest Income: Projected interest income decreased from $9.5 million to $7 million, reflecting a conservative estimate due to market uncertainty and lower cash reserves.
Operational Efficiencies: Nestry plans to consolidate the city's 30 bank accounts to reduce administrative work. She also aims to automate manual journal entries and improve integration of accounting software, particularly assisting the Neighborhood Business Development (NBD) department in fully transitioning to PeopleSoft.
Partnerships and Training: Nestry praised the audit partnership with Bonadio Group and noted the value of the FUST contract for professional support. She expressed interest in benchmarking with other cities (e.g., Rochester, Buffalo) and emphasized the need for more professional development funding, such as LinkedIn Learning, to build team capacity.
Cross-Departmental Collaboration: The commissioner highlighted ongoing collaboration with the Budget office, FinOps, and NBD. She noted that the BOA currently does not have any positions funded through SORA but will discuss SORA staffing during the FinOps budget hearing.
Reporting and Grants Management: Nestry wants to improve budget-to-actual reporting and ensure faster reimbursement from grants by better organizing grant project management. The Center of Excellence initiative is helping to revamp grant processes.

Key Outcomes

No formal votes were taken on the budget during this hearing. The council will continue budget discussions in subsequent sessions.
The proposed FY27 budget reflects a $19,000 reduction from the previous year, driven by salary adjustments and vacancy management.
Commissioner Nestry committed to exploring bank account consolidation, automation of accounting processes, and enhanced cross-departmental training as priorities for the coming year.

Meeting Transcript

All right, good morning, everybody. Welcome back. Um today we've got four hearings that are our conversations around the financial arm of the corporation. Um we're starting off this morning with the Bureau of Accounts. Um I am joined by Councillor Zernric, Jones Rauser, Moore, Nave, President Paniagua, um, Councillor Monto, and then Nestry and Kristen Bennett from our finance department. Um we're gonna start off on page 89. Uh but before we kind of jump into the numbers, do you want to just give us an overview of what you're doing while we're here? Uh certainly when we think about the the finances of the organization. Um arguably to me one of the most critical and uh very important as we move forward with the next couple weeks of discussions around the budget and our fiscal sustainability. Yeah, hi, good morning. Um thank you for that nice introduction. Yes, I'm Diane Nestry, and I've stepped up as the commissioner of finance um just this past month. So new in the role, but I've been around the city of Syracuse since 2016. Um very excited about this opportunity, and I'm already amazed at all of the things that the team is capable of and does being in this seat. I'm seeing a lot of how we work as a team, and I just wanted to give uh an appreciation of all the efforts that the team is making. Um yeah, we we're gonna go over Bureau of Accounts. This is where all the transactions for the city of Syracuse is accounted for in our uh finance system. We also oversee all of the bank accounts and transactions as well as doing any reconciliations and helping set up projects. Any other activity indicators high level that we do that I'm missing? We kind of do something with the audit. Yeah, put together the financial statements for the audit. That's a good collapse. Uh maybe one of the biggest things we do. Uh, and we help uh go to bond every year for the projects to uh replenish our spending, replenish our funds. Great, thank you. Yeah. Um I forgot how we do things. Fair enough. Our goal is to sustain operations. Um we did our best to align with last year's budget. So as you can see here, let's see. Our total BOA adopted budget for fiscal 26 is about $839,000, and we actually somehow squeezed the stone and got it down just under 180 20,000 or 1820,000, excuse me. For uh fiscal 27 proposed. So the difference in salaries because it's less this year, yet there's the same amount of people, and how do you come up with that number? So we had a vacancy that we reduced. We had two accountant threes budgeted, so that went down. Um we also did a slight reduction in one of our vacant positions for the deputy commissioner. This was a new role last year that we presented to you uh to the counselors and to the mayor's office to be funded. We have not yet filled it. Um but it's it is in your numbers, right? Because it says I mean the numbers here don't change by anything. The the staffing, yeah. Yep, we're maintaining. We are maintaining. Um we were just able to reduce some of the salary lines, uh salary amounts. Okay, okay. And I think yeah. Is that because there's new people? Um we've had two vacancies in BOA as now an accountant three and an accountant one. Uh we funded the accountant one.

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