nonprofits

Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner is asking SUNY Upstate Medical University to enter into a service agreement with the city, to help cover the cost of providing city services to the hospital. Miner has reached service agreements with other large nonprofits in the city, which do not pay taxes on their properties.   

Coming off the heels of the announcement that Syracuse University will provide $7 million to the city over four years for general services, Miner said she wanted to strike while the iron is hot and try to reach a deal with another big entity.

Now that a higher minimum wage is coming for workers in New York state, nonprofits plan to begin lobbying the state for more funding, in order to keep their agencies afloat.

At Access-CNY in Syracuse, the biggest number of employees are direct support professionals. Hundreds of these workers provide hands-on support for more than 3,000 central New Yorkers with developmental disabilities, acquired brain injuries and mental illnesses. They make $10-dollars and 25 cents an hour.

One of the issues coming up in the discussion of raising New York’s minimum wage to $15 an hour is the effect on nonprofits across the state.  

The Elmcrest Children’s Center has been taking care of central New York’s most damaged children since 1845 -- youngsters with developmental disabilities, and emotional and mental health issues. Executive director Joseph Geglia says its future could be in peril if it's forced to increase employees pay to $15 dollars an hour. He estimates it would add an extra $2 million to his budget a year.