Council Committee Receives Update on Syracuse Broadband Program and Budget Implications – April 28, 2026
Council Committee Receives Update on Syracuse Broadband Program and Budget Implications – April 28, 2026
The Neighborhood Preservation Committee met on April 28, 2026, to receive an update on the city's community broadband program (SurgeLink) ahead of budget decisions. Jen Tift, Director of Strategic Initiatives in the mayor's office, presented the program's history, current status, and future financial outlook. Councilors discussed the subsidy costs, marketing, expansion plans, and potential restructuring of the program to reduce city expenses.
Discussion Items
- Program Background: Tift outlined that Syracuse was one of the worst digitally connected mid-sized cities, with over 25% of households lacking internet access (nearly 50% in low-income census tracts) and one in three K–12 students without high-speed internet at home. The city launched a broadband program in 2023 using federal funds, later receiving a $10.8 million state grant to expand coverage.
- Current Coverage and Subscribers: The program now covers about 40% of the city (approximately 24,000 households). To date, 1,700 residents have been connected, with 98% qualifying for a subsidy. The service is a single tier of 100 Mbps symmetrical for $36.99/month market rate, with a subsidized rate of $14.95/month for low-income households.
- Financials and Subsidy: The city's current contract with the service provider expires at the end of 2026. Under the existing structure, the city pays a subsidy for each low-income subscriber. The estimated annual operating cost for the program is approximately $450,000–$500,000, mostly for the subsidy. To break even under the current model, the city would need a 60% market-rate to 40% subsidized subscriber ratio—far from current levels. Councilors noted that the city should expect to cover the subsidy for at least the next few years.
- Infrastructure Investment: The city is installing 17 miles of fiber backbone using state grant funds, which will allow the city to own the physical infrastructure. This fiber will connect several city facilities (firehouses, a recreation center, a community center). The city plans to lease the fiber to third-party internet service providers (ISPs) after the contract ends, which could shift from a fee-for-service model to a lease arrangement, potentially generating revenue and reducing city operating costs.
- Marketing and Outreach: There is no dedicated marketing budget in the current contract. The provider has conducted some community outreach at events, but awareness remains low—only 6.7% of eligible households in the coverage area are subscribers. Councilors expressed concern about the lack of marketing and suggested partnering with larger companies that have marketing resources, while Tift cautioned about predatory practices by some cell phone providers.
- Expansion and Future Plans: The state grant covers only the current expansion area; no additional federal or state grants are on the horizon for urban build-out. Tift noted that covering the remaining 60% of the city could be done with lower-cost wireless equipment. A comprehensive 5–10 year plan is not yet developed, but the city may apply for a state planning grant (up to $250,000) to study the long-term strategy. Councilor Caldwell asked about the plan for technology upgrades given changes in IT, and Tift acknowledged the need for a more formal plan.
- School District Engagement: Engagement with the Syracuse City School District has lapsed since the change in superintendents. Tift noted that Cleveland's Digital C program successfully partnered with its school district to fund service for students, which could be a model for Syracuse.
- Potential Service Expansion: The existing infrastructure could support higher-speed tiers and small business service, which would generate more revenue. Tift stated that the city could begin offering these services immediately, but under the current contract, the city would see only limited revenue from the 2% of customers paying market rates.
- Use of Network for City Operations: The fiber network could be used for police cameras, smart city applications, and other city operations, providing cost savings and improved cybersecurity.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken; the meeting was informational.
- Councilors gained a clearer understanding that the program will require ongoing city subsidy (around $500,000/year) for at least the next few years unless the contract structure changes.
- The administration will explore leasing the fiber infrastructure to ISPs after the current contract ends, which could move the city away from subsidizing service.
- The committee expressed interest in better marketing and partnerships to increase subscriber numbers and reduce the subsidy burden.
- The city will consider applying for a state planning grant to develop a long-term broadband strategy.
- Engagement with the school district will be renewed to explore potential funding for student internet access.
Meeting Transcript
So the goal is to stand up to you guys right now. Okay. Oh. Okay. All right. No problem. No problem. All right. I don't hear the bells chiming outside, but it is 11 o'clock per my phone. So we will get this committee meeting started. This is a there they go. Okay. This is a committee meeting for neighborhood preservation for just a update pre-budget decisions for the broad brand, the community broadband program. With me today, I have Counselor Hudson, Counselor Nave, President Piniagua, Councilor Monto. I thought I saw somebody else. Wasn't somebody else wear? Well, that's it for now. So we will just jump right in if you want to give us um your name just evaded me. Yes. Jen. Jen to Jen, you could say whatever your title is, because I'm not sure if it's sure. Um, and then just give us a little background. Sure, yeah, happy to. Um, so um I'm Jen Tift, I'm the director of strategic initiatives um in the mayor's office. And um, and yeah, happy to give you all a little bit of background, although I think you're all pretty um pretty familiar with with the program, um, and where we're you know, focusing today and and where we kind of see um see this heading and happy to answer questions. So um, so I think as everyone remembers, you know, back to the early days of the pandemic, you know, there were obviously lots of um concerns, not just here, frankly, but all over the country and the world about um the digital divide in many communities and how that really impacted pretty much every aspect of life, and it just became so much more apparent during the pandemic. Um, you know, especially for accessing educational and healthcare services, which were obviously super key during that time. Um, you know, we were obviously looking at the data um around Syracuse, we noticed and and had been, you know, recognizing frankly for a few years at that point that we were one of the worst digitally connected cities for mid-sized cities in the US. Um at that time, uh more than a quarter of our households had no source of internet, including cellular connectivity. Um actually when you looked at it just by the uh most uh the the lowest income census tracks, it was actually close to 50% of households without internet access, which um when you think about that today, it's just that's kind of mind-boggling. Um and then unfortunately, about one in three of our K through twelve students were also without you know, high higher speed internet at home. Um so you know, we really recognized we needed to try to do something about this, and at that time, you know, this was five years ago or so now, it's kind of crazy how how time flies. But we were fortunate because we did have resources that were not previously available to cities like ours to try to actually directly address this head on. The other thing I'll say, which you know, we were you know, kind of looking at as well and acknowledging is that from the city's perspective, we also didn't have a lot of you know direct investment in uh telecommunications network infrastructure as a city, you know. The only place we really had fiber optics was under this building, you know, basically connecting this building to City Hall Commons at the time. Um so you know, as a city in terms of just operating ourselves and for the resilience of our own operations, you know, we relied pretty heavily then and and frankly we still do today on third-party internet providers. So outside of you know, connectivity in this building, if we need to connect over at the parks, you know, headquarters or at any of our firehouses, we pay you know, the private market for those services. Um, all of that, you know, really is kind of the backdrop to in 2023. And I think at this at this point, everyone will remember there was an affordable connectivity program at the federal level that actually allowed us to offer internet for free. Um and we were really truly targeting um both the the least connected locations in the city as well as you know those very low income households that we were really trying to help uh you know during the pandemic. So that was sort of how we got started. Um about a year and a half later, we actually were successful in um being awarded a 10.8 million dollar grant from the state of New York to then expand that effort. So in the in the handout, you'll notice a map on the first page, all of the areas shaded in blue, which is essentially like the entire midsection of the city. Um those are the areas that we are now able to offer service in. Um and so it's about 40% of the city, about um 24,000 households that actually thank you. Would you mind? Yeah, perfect. Thanks, Nature. Um so uh so yeah, so we've we've been obviously operating for about two years, we've been expanding that service. We are like I said, um, able to connect uh you know, an area that includes about 24,000 households, um, which is a pretty significant amount.
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