Onondaga County Veterans Service Agency

The Onondaga County Veterans Service Agency is the county agency every New York county must keep under Veterans' Services Law 14; see the New York entry on local veterans' service agencies. Office: John H. Mulroy Civic Center, 421 Montgomery Street, Syracuse (main 315-435-3219; Director Anne-Marie Mancilla 315-435-3202). Its 2026 burial letter gives the 10th floor and its burial application the 11th; call before going. What it does. Its accredited officers file VA compensation, pension and survivors pension claims for veterans, spouses and dependents, and track back pay through its records system. It explains that a wartime veteran or survivor applying for Medicaid must also apply for the VA pension, a State requirement it helps with on the deadlines. It decides eligibility for burial in the County's Veterans Memorial Cemetery; see that entry. It distributes the State Department of Veterans' Services' Fresh Connect checks, organises the Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies, and sits on the Central New York threat assessment team for justice-involved veterans. Staffing. The Director told the Legislature on April 28, 2026 that the agency had seven positions, three of them vacant (two service officers and an aide); the vacant posts are now HELPS positions, filled outside the civil service exam, which had last produced only 11 candidates. Town outreach. Several towns now employ veterans outreach workers who visit veterans at home and pass claims to the agency, which trains them; ask your town clerk.