Republican lawmakers rap budget criticisms
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Two top Republicans in the Ulster County Legislature have “dismissed” the latest report by Democratic County Comptroller Elliott Auerbach as being “out of touch with the taxpayer.”
Auerbach’s report, issued earlier this week, criticized Ulster County Executive Michael Hein for tapping the county’s fund balance to bridge a $16 million revenue shortfall in the 2017 county budget, a use the comptroller characterized as akin to cracking open the county’s piggy bank.
Auerbach said county budgets should be developed with a multiyear approach that balances revenues and expenses.
Auerbach, who has sued Hein and the county Legislature for cutting his department’s budget, also challenged the Legislature to assert its power over the county executive in budgetary matters.
But Legislature Chairman Kenneth Ronk and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Gerentine said the alternative to using reserve funds would be to hike property taxes.
Ronk said that is not the way to go.
“When costs keep going up — we have a labor cost that keeps going up, our health insurance costs are skyrocketing, as they are for all businesses and all municipalities — that is what the fund balance is there for,” said Ronk, RWallkill. ”I think it would be disingenuous on our part to not utilize the fund balance that we have built up and raise taxes because, then, we are taxing the residents more than we need to, which is not what we are sent to Kingston to do.”
Gerentine, R-Marlborough, said Auerbach has made similar criticisms before and that neither the Legislature nor its independent auditor agrees with the comptroller.
In response to Auerbach’s report, Ulster County Budget Director Burt Gulnick issued a statement saying the comptroller “is either desperate for attention or simply does not understand the basics of municipal finance.”
The Hein administration official said the county “has a strong reputation for being one of the most fiscally sound counties in the Hudson Valley as noted by the New York state comptroller, our bond rating agencies, as well as the county Legislature’s independent budget analysis.”
Auerbach’s report also highlighted what he said were:
• Consistent overbudgeting of revenues, including actual revenue shortfalls in four of the last five years.
• Consistent overbudgeting of expenditures over the last five years at an average amount of $17.43 million per year.
• Consistent overbudgeting of salaries by including unfilled and vacant positions, creating a budget cushion of approximately $2 million per year.