If city taxpayers had to pay off the current bill for retiree healthcare, each household would owe more than $32,000, the most per capita of any city in New York, according to a study released today by the Empire Center.

All told, Syracuse’s current bill for retiree healthcare is $1.8 billion, according to E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center.

City taxpayers, though, don’t have to pay that bill today. So city officials – like all other governments in the state facing similar bills – are making minimum payments now and shifting the bulk of the costs to future generations.

In essence, that means government officials are treating the growing healthcare costs for retired cops, teachers, garbage collectors and firefighters like a credit card bill that no one wants to pay off.

Still, that looming debt matters, McMahon said in his annual look at the rising costs of healthcare for retired public workers.

“This is an obligation for Syracuse taxpayers,” McMahon said. If the city went broke – which Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner said could happen within three years – taxpayers would be on the hook for the entire $1.8 billion bill.

That’s more than 7 times the $243 million in debt the city faces now for bridge repairs, athletic fields, snow plows, and sidewalks currently on the books….

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