Ex-finance chief pleads guilty to grand larceny
Burt Gulnick admits to stealing from organizations he worked for
Former Ulster County Finance Commissioner Burt Gulnick pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of grand larceny, admitting in Ulster County Court that he stole more than $100,000 from two organizations for which he served as treasurer.
Gulnick, 51, stood before Visiting Judge Deborah Young with his hands clasped behind his back as he admitted he stole $97,000 from the Hurley Recreation Association and $15,000 from the Friends of Mike Hein campaign account.
In exchange for pleading guilty, visiting Judge Deborah Young agreed to sentence Gulnick to 1 to 3 years in state prison.
Additionally, Young ordered Gulnick to pay $35,000 in restitution to the Hurley Recreation
Association and $15,000 to the Hein campaign, prior to his sentencing date. Gulnick’s attorney, Todd Carpenter, said Gulnick will repay those monies from funds he is due from the county as a result of his termination.
Gulnick also signed a “confession of judgment,” in which he agreed to repay to the association’s insurance company the $62,000 in losses it covered resulting from Gulnick’s theft.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Emmanuel Nneji called the thefts, especially from the Hurley Recreation Association, “unconscionable.”
“This process of theft deprived children of the town of Hurley of a part of their summer last summer,” Nneji said.
“That’s not OK. It’s not OK for anyone to do that to anyone at any time, but to do it to children … is unconscionable,” he said.
The Hurley Recreation Association is a not-for-profit organization that operates a membersonly pool and summer camp program. Gulnick served as its treasurer from May 1, 2019, to Feb. 15, 2023.
Gulnick was arrested by state police on June 16, following a months-long investigation instigated by a Feb. 23, complaint filed by the Hurley Recreation Association. Following that revelation, Hein, a former Ulster County ex
ecutive, ordered a full financial review of his campaign account and discovered that Gulnick had also pilfered monies from Hein’s campaign account. Gulnick served as Hein’s campaign treasurer from July 20, 2017, to Aug. 5, 2021.
Gulnick was originally charged with five counts of falsifying business records, one count of grand larceny (property value exceeding $50,000), two counts of grand larceny (property value exceeding $3,000) and one count of scheme to defraud (property greater than $1,000 from one or more persons). His plea Tuesday was in satisfaction of all of those charges.
He resigned as the county’s Finance commissioner on March 1, when the allegations involving the Hurley Recreation Association were made public.
Shortly after Gulnick’s resignation, Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger called on the state Comptroller’s Office to conduct a forensic audit of the county’s finances.
That audit is ongoing and Nneji said Gulnick’s plea Tuesday was in no way connected to that investigation.
“That’s a separate investigation altogether and we are not going to speculate on what’s going to happen or where it’s going to go,” Nneji said.
“It is important to be clear that the DA’s investigation pertains only to crimes committed by Gulnick as a private citizen in volunteer roles and not in his previous position as County Finance Commissioner,” Metzger stated in a release following Gulnick’s court appearance. “The Office of State Comptroller is conducting a forensic audit of County finances at my request to ensure taxpayer dollars are protected, and we expect that investigation to conclude soon, as well.”
Gulnick was tapped by Hein to be the county finance commissioner in 2012. He had previously served six years as deputy finance commissioner.
During his tenure, Gulnick was known to become defensive when questioned about his handling of county monies and came under fire on several occasions, including in 2022, when Heather Mikesh, Gulnick’s former confidential secretary, alleged that he hid a mistake made by the county payroll supervisor that cost the county $1 million. County officials acknowledged the mistake but said the state reimbursed the county the money it had erroneously sent. Mikesh also filed a lawsuit against the county in 2022 alleging that she was subject to hostility, gender discrimination, and abusive behavior in a dysfunctional work environment.
County Legislator Joseph Maloney, who had long criticized Gulnick’s handling of the county’s finances and had repeatedly called for investigations into Gulnick concerning a number of issues, said Tuesday that Gulnick’s admission should serve as a “wake-up call” to county legislators.
“I’d been raising concerns about (Gulnick’s) handling of Mike’s campaign for about five years. Nobody cared,” said Maloney, D-Saugerties. “If anybody would have just listened, we could have put a stop to this five years ago.
“The fact that the county, with all these red flags, would never take a look … unless we’re brave enough to stand up and ask the questions, these things are going to keep happening,” he said.
Gulnick is scheduled to be sentenced at 3 p.m. on Jan. 19