There was a sense of déjà vu recently at Rotterdam Town Hall, when three Rotterdam Town Board members introduced amendments to the 2012 tentative budget. But unlike last year, the proposals came before the eleventh hour.
During the board’s meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 26, council members Nicola DiLeva, Matthew Martin and Wayne Calder presented amendments to undo cuts from Supervisor Frank Del Gallo’s tentative budget before voting on the preliminary budget.
The packed-in audience applauded the amendments restoring 13 positions in Del Gallo’s budget previously proposed to be eliminated through layoffs, and another three through attrition. The new spending plan came in slightly below Del Gallo’s $20.3 million proposed budget, but it will use $366,143.33 in reallocated funds from the special district fund balance to cover administrative costs for those districts in the general fund.
“We did a systematic change that will continue into the future,” DiLeva said about the fund reallocations. “All property tax payers in the Town of Rotterdam have been subsidizing the cost of administering the special districts, while these same tax districts have accumulated well over$2 million in surplus funds in designated fund balance.”
DiLeva said the board members checked with surrounding towns, the City of Schenectady and the county, which all follow the town’s newly proposed process for special district administrative costs.
The salaries paid to all elected town officials cut in Del Gallo’s budget, including the board members’ $10,000 stipend and supervisor’s $13,000 stipend, were restored. Del Gallo previously said board members don’t need to be paid. The total for all board member compensation is $41,500.
DiLeva said board members were never given a reason for the specific cuts on budget lines, which some thought “gutted” the Parks and Recreation Department and weakened services offered at the senior center. Also, the Police Department’s budget was cut by over $200,000, which would have meant the elimination of two detective positions.
“We were never as a Town Board given a reason why they were cut,” DiLeva said. “They are all back in and they are safe.”
DiLeva said submitting the amendments now allows the Del Gallo and Deputy Supervisor Robert Godlewski time to review the changes and submit any further changes they desire. Fund balance usage would remain at $800,000, the same as in DelGallo’s budget.
The amended budget did add $134,657.29 in revenue to account for estimated FEMA-covered expenses incurred by the town resulting from Tropical Storms Irene and Lee.
“I think we came up with a really sound budget … and hopefully you’ll see what we see in this,” DiLeva said.
Town Comptroller Anthony Tangarone said Tuesday, Nov. 1, he was still compiling the preliminary budget with the amendments presented at the meeting. The new budget should bring the previous property tax levy increase of 2.83 percent down slightly, said Tangarone.
DelGallo asked Tangarone during the meeting about the reallocated expenses and said since the moved funds are directly related to the expenses it would be legal to do. He wouldn’t comment on details of the budget on Nov. 1 since he was still putting it together.
DelGallo voted against the amendments, saying he hadn’t seen the changes until the meeting. The budget vote passed 4-1. Godlewski and Tangarone also hadn’t seen the changes until DiLeva presented it at the meeting.
The board also unanimously voted against overriding the tax cap, which the new budget still falls within.
There is a special meeting to be held by the board on Thursday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. for the sole purpose of holding a public hearing on the preliminary budget. State law requires the town to adopt its 2012 Budget by Nov. 20.
CORRECTION: This story has been corrected to reflect the proper amount of funds reallocated from special districts as $366,143.33 not more than $2 million, which is the total amount available in the special district fund balance. The Spotlight regrets this error and any confusion it may have caused.
