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CS Village Board Begins Wrestling With Next Budget
"Homework" assignments handed out to trustees
by Kevin Foley
Just as their counterparts in the federal, state and county governments have to wrestle with the budgetary demons of declining revenue and rising expenses so does the Board of Trustees of the Village of Cold Spring. Working before an audience of one at a weekly workshop meeting, held on Wednesday, March 19, 2008, due to the village elections on Tuesday, the trustees began what will be a month-long hard look at where money might be saved or found and what services might get trimmed.
Trustee Edward Mancari, a nineteen-year veteran of village budgets, chaired the discussion, which began with a review of new procedures to be introduced immediately for the remaining weeks of the current fiscal year, which ends on May 31. "We have to sit down and look at this year's budget with all the department heads to make certain sufficient funds exist before any expenditure is made," said Mancari. He cited fuel oil and gasoline price increases, state mandated pension costs and a January rise in employee medical insurance premiums as the main drivers of the budget stress.
Newly reelected Trustee Seth Gallagher, who has made fiscal discipline an oft-repeated mantra in recent months, expressed his frustration that "people continue to spend funds over what is budgeted. We have to have restraint in making purchases, we have lower than expected revenue collection."
Mancari said the new procedures would involve the trustees monitoring the budget process every two weeks so they can see proposed expenditures rather than approving already allocated funds. "Emergencies are the exception," said Mancari.
Mancari referred the trustees and village staff to some small but consequential items in the $1.5 million budget as possible sources of increased funding. He instructed Village Clerk Mary Saari to pursue late fee payers, singling out the Hudson House Inn for not yet paying a parking lot fee. He asked Village Treasurer Barbara Rudolph to see if the operating budget properly reflected employee contributions to medical insurance. He also told her $18,000 from the separate water and sewer accounts could be transferred to the general account to reflect the village's administrative expense in dealing with those matters.
Both Gallagher and Mancari agreed it would be worthwhile to explore changing bankers from M&T to Wachovia due to dissatisfaction with the former because of service snafus and a recent interest rate reduction on village accounts.
There was general agreement that the village computer software was antiquated and responsible for occasional lapses in budgetary accounting. The vendor no longer offers upgrades and instead wants to sell the village a new $60,000 system. Gallagher said he was familiar with a provider whose software specialized in New York State budgets and was known by the state Comptroller's office and cost only $6,900. He suggested the board might want to consider the expenditure.
Trustee Mancari then put on his "high school principal hat" (Beacon High School) and announced, "we all have homework to do." Mancari proceeded to assign everyone present, including Mayor Anthony Phillips, who joined the discussion at this point, with the job of reviewing an aspect of the budget to determine more precisely whether it was probably accounted for and how it might be altered to save money in the new fiscal year.
Mancari provided the trustees and staff with a mock budget of $1.6 million, indicating it would require a 12% tax increase to be fully funded. "We have to all dig in and see which expenditures are realistic or are in need of modification," he said.
Mancari said an actual preliminary budget for public review was due April 15 with the final budget ready for approval on April 29.
Seth Gallagher said he was concerned that the next budget would begin with a shortfall from the current fiscal year, which in turn had carried a $90,000 deficit from the previous year. "We'll squeak by but we'll end up cutting into next year's budget. We're almost going to have to plan for a surplus to account for this," he said.
Mayor Phillips did have one piece of good news announcing that Putnam County legislative leaders had agreed to renew $7,500 in annual funding for weekend garbage pickup on Main Street, which had been a sore point with the board, and the Chamber of Commerce. "They recognized they were promoting tourism in our area so they agreed the money should be there," said the Mayor, who had gone to Carmel to lobby for the funds along with Legislator Vincent Tamagna.
But the Mayor warned that the county and state government might not renew their agreement on snow removal, which would leave the salt storage shed in the village (which Cold Spring had shared in) empty. "That means buying 6-8,000 pounds depending on the winter we have next year,' said the Mayor.
The Mayor also pointed out that the village vehicle fleet of trucks and cars was aging. "You don't want all of them to come due for replacement at the same time," he cautioned.
Among the assignments handed out by Mancari was one to Gordon Robertson, who had only been elected a trustee the night before, having bested incumbent Karen Dunn in the three-way race for two seats. Roberston, an insurance professional, was asked to examine the village's insurance expenses for worker's compensation, general liability and medical coverage.
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