That cracked sidewalk may not be yours to fix

If you are searching for sidewalk repair, you want a straight answer on who pays. The answer depends on two questions. Where does the concrete sit, and which municipality are you in? This guide walks through both, then tells you what to do next.

A property in the Syracuse area usually has several slabs in a row. Walk from the house toward the street and name each one before you call anyone. The order matters, because each piece has a different owner.

• Your garage floor, your steps and your driveway are yours. You decide, you hire, you pay.
• The driveway apron, where the drive meets the road, sits partly in the road right of way, so the road owner has a say. On a county road the county holds you responsible for its upkeep.
• The public sidewalk, the strip people walk along, is a separate thing again.
• The street itself belongs to a road owner: the city, a town, a village, the county or the state.

Write down which of these your crack is in. If you cannot tell, stand at the edge of the sidewalk and look for the joints. The sidewalk runs along the street, and the apron is the dipped section where cars cross it. That one photo will save you a long phone call later.

Here is the fact that changes the decision. The city began its Municipal Sidewalk Maintenance Program in the second half of 2021. Under it, the city is responsible for repairing and replacing existing public sidewalks.

Before the program, property owners carried that duty, and the city could condemn a sidewalk it judged unsafe. That older rule is the reason many people still believe a cracked sidewalk is theirs to pay for. In the city it no longer is.

So if your cracked slab is the public sidewalk and your property is inside the City of Syracuse, do not hire a contractor to replace it. Report the hazard to the city through CityLine, its service line, by phone or online. Take a photo and note the address first, so the report is quick.

A contractor who offers to replace a city sidewalk for you is selling something the city already does. You are allowed to ask, politely, why you would pay for it.

The money comes from a yearly fee on every property in the city. You pay it whether or not your own sidewalk is ever touched. The program set the fee to start at $20 for a home in year two and rise by $20 a year to $100 in year six. Ask the city what your bill shows now.

The fee has an exemption for owners who completed permitted sidewalk work, valid for ten years from the permit date. If you paid for permitted work, ask the city whether it applies to you.

The point for your wallet is simple. Your fee already goes toward repairs, so a second payment for the same strip would be money spent twice.

The program covers repair and replacement. It does not cover everything.

• Snow and ice: you must still clear the public sidewalk in front of your property, by 6 p.m. on the day after it accumulates, according to the city.
• Your own slabs: the driveway, steps, walk to your door and garage floor remain yours.
• The apron: it is not public sidewalk, so the sidewalk program does not decide it.

If you have not cleared your walk after a storm, do that first. It is the one sidewalk duty the city says stays with you.

The apron is the piece owners confuse most. It feels like part of the sidewalk because it is flush with it, and it feels like part of the street because cars cross it. It belongs to neither answer.

On a county road, the county's stated policy puts upkeep of the driveway on you, from the right-of-way line out to the shoulder or curb. That is your concrete to keep up.

State law adds a second point. Section 136 of the Highway Law calls for a county work permit before anyone builds or improves an entrance on a county road. Breaking that rule can cost from $25 to $1,000 per day.

So if you suspect your cracked apron is on a county road, ask your contractor in writing who will apply for the permit before the forms go up. The guide on driveway permits in Onondaga County walks through that step by step.

If the road is a city, town or village street, the same question applies to a different office. Do not assume the county rules cover a street the county does not own.

The City of Syracuse program only covers properties inside the city. It tells you nothing about East Syracuse, Liverpool, Solvay, Baldwinsville, Skaneateles or any other village, and nothing about the surrounding towns.

In those places, the sidewalk rule is set by the local government. Some municipalities repair sidewalks and some expect owners to. There is no single rule for the whole metro.

So make one call before you spend a dollar. Ask the clerk or town office who owns repairs to a broken public sidewalk on your street, and whether you need a permit if you do it yourself. Note who answered and when.

Once you know a slab is yours, hire like a homeowner who has done it before. New York's General Business Law Article 36-A covers home improvement contracts, and it counts driveways, patios and similar work as home improvement. A contract for more than $500 must be in a signed writing.

That writing has to include the contractor's name, start and completion dates, a description of the work and materials, and the agreed price. It must also give you a cooling-off right: you can cancel in writing up to the end of the third business day after you sign.

Read the paper before you sign it. If the description of the work does not name the concrete mix, ask for it to be added. Article 36-A is a contract rule that protects you as the customer, and it is not a license of any kind. The state issues no license to home improvement contractors, so the wording of your contract counts for more than a contractor's say-so.

Ask for the pour month and the first-winter plan in the same paper.

1. Name the slab: garage floor, steps, driveway, apron, public sidewalk or street.
2. Inside the City of Syracuse and it is the public sidewalk? Report it to CityLine and keep your photo.
3. Outside the city? Call your village clerk or town office and ask who owns the sidewalk repair.
4. On the apron? Ask who owns the road and whether a permit is needed before you accept a quote.
5. Your own slab? Ask for a written scope that names the mix, the pour month and the plan for the first winter.

We do not repair or replace public sidewalks, and we do not offer that work in the City of Syracuse, because the city does it. What we can do is help you work out whose slab it is, then introduce you to an independent local contractor for the pieces that are yours. Send us what you see and we will help you work through it.