On Monday, Dec. 5, the Albany County Legislature adopted a $598 million budget with an 8 percent tax hike. Exactly one week later on Monday, Dec. 12, County Executive Michael Breslin exercised his veto power. And on Wednesday, Dec. 14, the 2012 Albany County budget showdown came to a close when the legislature voted 27-7 to override Breslin’s veto, keeping the 2012 legislative budget intact.
“We all have to take some blame and accept our small part,” said Shawn Morse, chair of the audit and finance committee. “The legislature has to exercise direction and figure out how to save money throughout the year.”
The body needed at least 26 “yes” votes to override Breslin’s veto and failure to record those necessary votes would have enacted a budget with a 13 percent tax hike, still less than the initial 19.2 percent increase Breslin proposed in his Executive Budget.
“The budget is a document that changes every single day and will change a million times throughout the year,” said Morse. “We need to take into consideration, as money is coming in or not coming in, are we meeting our expectations?”
Breslin released a statement right after the override vote, saying his proposed budget was “very tightly drawn” and the legislature’s changes put the county at risk.
“There is no room to account for the unknowns of the state budget and the economy,” said Breslin.
In a letter that called the legislative budget “impractical and unsustainable,” Breslin had laid out various issues he felt would have detrimental effects on the residents of Albany County, from services provided to financial stability.
“While the legislative changes may lower the tax increase on paper, they put the county in a precarious position to maintain operations,” said Breslin in the letter, also stating the legislative budget included “unrealistic savings and overly optimistic revenue estimates.”
At the Dec. 14 special meeting, Morse said he stood by the adopted budget that his committee worked hard to draft, and said county services are “intact” and “taxpayers get a break.”
“I’m confident we will achieve what we need to achieve,” said Morse.
Christopher Higgins, D-Albany, originally voted against overriding the state tax cap and adopting the legislative budget. He said he “(stood) by those reasons” and would be voting “no” on overriding Breslin’s veto.
“I still think … some significant steps could have been done to further reduce the property tax levy,” said Higgins. “I do not envy the position you (Dan McCoy) have moving forward as the next county executive.”
Brian Scavo, D-Albany, also initially voted against adopting the legislative budget but on Wednesday said he would be voting to save it because the “tax monkey has turned into King Kong” and he didn’t want taxes raised any higher.
“We’re damned if we do and we’re damned if we don’t so tonight by voting for the override we save taxpayers of Albany County 5 percent,” said Scavo.
Later in the meeting, Scavo tried to blame Chairman and incoming County Executive Dan McCoy for allowing Breslin’s veto to occur and initiating a vote to override it.
“There’s a failure here; the failure is yours, Mr. McCoy, for letting this override move forward in the first place,” said Scavo. “This is your budget, you let the people of Albany County down by letting this override move forward so the blame is on your shoulders and you better roll back taxes when you get in. You better roll back taxes, Mr. McCoy.”
McCoy said it’s written in the charter that the county executive holds the power to veto a budget and the legislature is allowed to call a vote to override that veto.