In an unusual twist for a public hearing, the Rotterdam Town Board recently debated the 2012 budget amongst itself for around 40 minutes before the public even got a chance to speak.
The only resolution and sole purpose for the Rotterdam Town Board meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 2, was to hear comments from the public on the preliminary budget. Criticism of the budget was heard from Republican candidate hopefuls, who failed to secure any seats in the board the following week.
About half of the meeting, though, consisted of board members debating the reallocation of funds from special districts, a move that brings about $366,000 into the operating budget.
Reallocating funds was meant to provide a systematic change, Councilwoman Nicola DiLeva previously said, because funds would be reallocated to cover administrative costs in those districts. This shifting, among other changes, restored 16 positions cut from Supervisor Frank DelGallo’s tentative budget. DiLeva and Councilmen Wayne Calder and Matthew Martin proposed the reallocations.
But Deputy Supervisor Robert Godlewski questioned the legality of the three council members’ decision to reallocate funds.
“Where in municipal law does it say you can use the fund balances?” asked Godlewski. “That’s what we’re concerned about and the comptroller is concerned about it.”
Town Comptroller Anthony Tangarone said he trusted the board members, saying they sought legal counsel and found there to be no legal conflict.
“I’m relying on the statement that you legally reviewed this and that you are correct in your interpretation,” Tangarone said. “I’m sure there is substantial documentation for your action and I will need a copy of that … but why would I not trust your interpretation?”
DiLeva said Tangarone said the fund reallocation was legal on three separate occasions and didn’t hold any concerns previously.
“If you are saying that you are going on based on what I’m saying, why would you say yes to us?” DiLeva said. “I don’t mean to put you on the spot, but every time we come up here there is something put on our agenda that shouldn’t be there … we have all different kinds of information, you are our comptroller, you work for all five of us.”
Tangarone said he talked to the New York State Comptroller’s Office the afternoon before the Nov. 2 meeting, after meeting with DiLeva the same day.
“The information is, in order to accomplish this (reallocating the fund balance) you must do a study based on a rational, reasonable, defendable allocation process that needs to be documented,” Tangarone said.
Godlewski said the allocation cannot be arbitrarily determined and it needs to be based on the process Tangarone stated. DiLeva said she would provide Tangarone with the documentation he requested within a week.
“It has never been done before in this town,” Godlewski said. “Here we have a tax cap … and all this is doing is a way to get around the tax cap.”
DelGallo said to DiLeva that she should “be doing her wheeling in Las Vegas.”
Shortly after DelGallo made his statement he stepped away from the board momentarily and DiLeva said she has had enough with DelGallo’s treatment of her.
“I’m done with taking the disrespect that that man has given me because I am a woman on this board for the last few years,” DiLeva said, which was followed with applause from the audience.
Godlewski then questioned why DiLeva ordered a correction to a typo in the preliminary budget resolution adopted at the previous meeting, but Calder quickly interjected.
“Every time we try to do something you throw a wrench in it,” Calder said. “Is this all your job is here, to throw a wrench into things?”
Once the public hearing started, Joseph Villano, a Republican candidate who failed in his Town Board bid in the election, was the first to voice concerns with the budget.
“(The budget) is an incredible reckless use of our capital accounts,” Villano said. “The jobs cut under DelGallo’s plan were fiscally sound … those jobs got restored to the budget, however, at an incredible cost, the cost is our future security.”
Also, Republican hopeful Brian McGarry, who lost his bid for supervisor, echoed Villano and said the preliminary budget is “kicking the can down the road” and has fiscal problems that will “explode” in the 2013 budget.
DelGallo did make some final remarks before the meeting adjourned. He said when hard times come cuts need to be made that are not popular and not easy to make.
“When I came here I had no political background and very little of it now, but I do know how to run a business and I know how hard it is to go weeks sometime without a paycheck,” DelGallo said. “You have to live within your means. You can’t spend more than your revenues are … benefits, payroll, everything keeps climbing … the only business we got is people and services and that is what is costing us money.”
The town must adopt a budget by Nov. 20.
