Syracuse City Law Department Budget Hearing - April 16, 2026
Syracuse City Law Department Budget Hearing - April 16, 2026
The Syracuse Common Council held a budget hearing on April 16, 2026, with the Law Department. Corporation Counsel and Deputy Counsel Joe Berry presented an overview of the department's operations, workload, staffing, and challenges. The hearing covered litigation volume, problem property enforcement, outside counsel usage, and squatter issues, among other topics.
Discussion Items
- Department Overview: Corporation Counsel explained that the office represents the entire city, defends against lawsuits, and pursues affirmative claims for property damage. Since the start of the fiscal year, the department has received 203 notices of claim, the first step in litigation against the city. The office also works with Codes and Syracuse Police to address problem properties, including those involved in illegal cannabis sales, tobacco sales to minors, or drug activity.
- Staffing Levels: The budget shows a reduction from 34 to 31 attorney positions. Currently, there are two vacancies for assistant corporation counsel; one vacancy occurred after the budget was printed. The department also lost one secretary position. Corporation Counsel noted that one attorney position is funded going into the 2026-2027 budget year, meaning three additional funded positions would be needed to reach previous levels.
- Outside Counsel: The department uses outside counsel for significant trial work when in-house capacity is insufficient. They often partner with outside firms to mentor younger attorneys. Outside counsel costs fluctuate, and fewer in-house attorneys increase reliance on outside counsel.
- Notable Litigation: The department is handling an in-house federal trial for a case involving a man named Broadwater, who was convicted of rape 25 years ago and later exonerated by DNA. Another major case involves property owner Kletzke, who owns dozens of dilapidated properties; the city has filed a lawsuit and expects a favorable court order with significant fines.
- Appeals Court Strategy: Corporation Counsel confirmed that for a recent appeal regarding tax status for Shine, the department submitted on papers rather than sending an attorney to oral argument. This decision was made due to staffing constraints and the court's acceptance of submission.
- Squatter Problem: Council members raised concerns about squatters in vacant properties, linking them to house fires. Corporation Counsel noted that the law favors squatters, making eviction difficult and time-consuming, and suggested lobbying state legislators for reform.
- Remote Work: Two staff members work from home part-time or full-time due to health or family health issues.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes or decisions were taken during the hearing. The discussion informed the Council about the Law Department's operations and challenges as part of the budget process.
- Corporation Counsel committed to providing a memo on squatter laws.
- The department's budget request for additional attorney positions will be considered by the Council.
- Overall, the Law Department collected approximately $500,000 in judgments to date and continues to pursue problem properties aggressively.
Meeting Transcript
I just think you'll see that it feels like it's going quite easier. Sorry. You're all good. Um, okay. No, that's what we love. It is what it is. Okay. We'll give people one more minutes. One more minute. Okay. No, we'll just go. So uh one on five more. Thank you. We were hoping that folks would see that key me so you can get together and do the list that he's constantly flowing. I'm trying not to take it personally, but I think so that he doesn't make myself. Can I share your book? Of course, yeah. Julie had given us this to the easier way to look at something for the bug ink. It has everything that's in here, but not in that meeting. All right. Good afternoon. Um I know that there are more colleagues that ran to get refreshments, our fourth hearing of the day. Um we're trying not to take it personally here in the law department. Um but join joining me today, as of now, Counselor Nave President Paniagua, and we have the Department of Law. We've got Suketzov and Joe Berry. Thank you. Thanks for having us. Uh thank you very much. And what I've been having everyone lead with is uh, you know, what what does your department do? How does it fit into the structure of the corporation? What do you do? What are some of the the wins that you can share with us and other you know potential challenges for for the for the past budget year? Sure, thank you for the opportunity to do that. So our office represents the entire city. We are legal counsel for the entire city, all of your boards. Um primarily obligation as corporation counsel is to defend the city in actions commenced against us. So to date since the beginning of the fiscal year, we have received 203 notices of claim, and that is the first step to starting a lawsuit against the city. So that's a pretty significant volume of claims that come in. In addition to that, we also um address affirmative claims where if someone has damaged our property, so think I I hate to be on the record saying this, but think national grid is doing some kind of digging and injured, you know, harms one of our pipes. We go up, we pursue that and get um those claims addressed so that we can repair our pipe and we're not out any money. Um I think that the next biggest thing that has the greatest public um impact is the work that our office does in conjunction with codes and SPD to address problem properties. It can be a nuisance property, it can be a property that has ongoing trash issues, like they just their whole front yard is full of trash. It can be um the more serious claims that we have taken um great lengths at trying to pursue if you are selling illegal cannabis, if you are selling tobacco to minors, if you are engaged in the sale of illegal drugs, we have created a mechanism where we work cross-departmentally to try to address those properties early on. We have a process by which we have now developed to pursue those. It takes a lot of man hours, it takes a lot of coordination amongst departments. I could not be successful without codes, if I'm being completely honest, and SPD's help. Um, but we have really got it down, if I do say so myself. It took us a while, we had to figure out what the courts would allow us to do and what they wouldn't allow us to do, but we now have a good system where we can identify properties earlier, we can go after them when they have demonstrated a significant um ongoing issue with what we deem to be um illegal or improper practices at a site. Um beyond that, we pursue um bad landlords we or bad property owners. So the name Kletzke may mean something to you.
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