What Happened at Committee: 911 Staffing Shortages Show the Human Cost of County Priorities
October 22nd 2025
At Tuesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting, legislators heard updates from Emergency Management and Emergency Communications, two departments that play a critical role in how our county responds when residents call for help.
If you watch the full video, you’ll see Emergency Communications Commissioner Julie Corn speak about the improvements our e911 department is doing with AI. Things like using tools to transcribe the calls. At about 24:20 you can watch as she speaks somewhat candidly about the ongoing staffing challenges within the department. She said her team is thankful for the new technology investments included in the budget, but made it clear that the staffing shortage still needs to be addressed. (see clip below)
According to Commissioner Corn, a recent study showed the department needs 17 additional positions to meet current demand. We can talk about the demands that job presents and how those callers are literally the first line of defense for people who are in crisis. We could talk about the emotional toll that job takes on our responders. However, as a legislator, our job is the budget, and that number is more than data; it is evidence of the growing pressure on the people answering the phones when someone’s life is on the line.
Over the summer here in Syracuse, there was a crisis where a large group of young people were having a big altercation, residents reported calling 911 and feeling like they were being sent to voicemail. That feeling during a crisis, what we subjected our community to, in my opinion was preventable, and in my opinion is unfair. When you add that we’re building an aquarium, and we actually do have the ability to address this in some way, it’s where I think it crosses into immoral.
At the budget vote last week, I said that we are prioritizing flashy spending over human capital, and our kids are paying the price. This committee meeting was another reminder that those choices have real-world consequences. It is not enough to modernize systems if we are not investing in the people who make those systems work.
We have to start treating staffing, especially in public safety and emergency response, as essential infrastructure. I wish I could say this staffing issue was exclusive to e911. At the budget presentation we heard a similar cry for staffing from the Sheriff Union’s leadership in the ongoing contract dispute. Away from public safety, I could even bring up OCC offering employees voluntary retirement to address shortagings. This is a clear pattern of neglect on our part as the legislature.
Our Board of elections is still understaffed when compared to other Boards of election across the state. That staffing shortage got us state attention last year because of a “deeply troubling” backlog of voter registrations during the presidential election year. I want to thank the Post Standard for telling the complete story in this article
In 2023, our BOE commissioners asked for 6 more staffers for the 2024 calendar year and were denied by this same legislature that I serve on. In the 2024 calendar year, we had a deeply troubling backlog. To address the backlog the state sent extra bodies, and the crisis was resolved in a couple weeks. Because of the backlog in 2024, during the 2024 budget cycle our BOE commissioners asked for 6 more staffers for the 2025 calendar year. Last year’s budget gave them 4 of the requested positions. You’ll notice the state did not send out a letter in 2025 stating how “deeply troubling” our registration is this year. I think those two statements are directly correlated.
Whether it’s the 17 positions needed at e911, the BOE, or the Sheriff’s department, or any of the other departments where we get similar criticisms, we are not prioritizing people at a rate that I’m comfortable with. Millions for drones and helicopters does make for a nice headline; however, you can’t do those things in place of humans who are trained and can do their job.
I typically don’t like calling it out publicly because there’s a real fear of retaliation that doesn’t apply to me. I don’t mind putting myself out there, and risking my livelihood as an elected official; however, I’m not comfortable doing it when it’s other people.
My gripe isn’t with the executive, or the specific departments, but with my colleagues in the legislature. When the budget is in our control, we owe it to the employees of the county, and the residents in this community who rely on the services we provide.
I was criticized during the session for “bringing these things up last minute,” and for not appreciating the historic savings our county has provided its citizens; however, in my eyes those savings cost come directly from the e911 positions we’re short. They come directly from the BOE positions we’ve denied, and the sheriffs who are forced to work overtime, because our wages are subpar to other municipal police departments here in Central NY.
There’s this notion that I’m not paying attention to the progress and that’s why I’m not celebrating. I’d like to challenge that notion to say, yes I am paying attention, and it’s why I’m not celebrating. The prosperity this county is seeing has not trickled down to its staff, or its residents.