Extra $100,000 needed to cover judgments, claims

KINGSTON, N.Y. » City lawmakers are considering transferring $100,000 from Kingston’s contingency fund to cover cost overruns in a judgments and claims account within the city clerk’s budget.

City Clerk Carly Winnie told the Common Council’s Finance and Audit Committee last week that Kingston’s 2018 budget included $100,000 for judgments and claims. The city already has incurred nearly $200,000 in claims so far this year, she said, which prompted the budget transfer request.

The committee ultimately agreed to the transfer, but the matter still must go to the full Common Council for a vote next month.

City Comptroller John Tuey said Kingston received a lot of claims late last year and, if the claims had been known earlier, would have included more money in the 2018 budget for those expenses. The account is used to pay for deductibles the city incurs on liability insurance claims, he said.

Claims can come from, among other things, accidents or damage caused by potholes on city streets, Tuey said. He said the claims are made to the city’s insurance company and, when a payment is made as a result, the deductible is charged back to the city.

“I’m sure we’ll be revisiting this and looking at other transfers down the line,” Tuey said. He also said he would identify other sources of revenue in the budget to avoid pulling more money out of the city’s contingency fund for the judgments and claims.

Tuey said about there is about $895,000 in the city’s contingency fund but some of that money was earmarked for contracts.

The city still is negotiating new contracts with the Police Benevolent Association and the Civil Service Employees Association, both of which have been without deals since the end of 2016.