Official objects to mayor’s meetings
Mantello says Madden doesn’t have authority to include council members in workshops
TROY >> City Council President Carmella Mantello claims Mayor Patrick Madden is overstepping his authority in scheduling a series of workshops over the next month for he and council members to get public input as they prepare to begin what is expected to be the very difficult process of compiling a 2017 city budget.
Madden announced the workshops, which will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7, and Tuesdays, Sept. 13 and 20, in the main conference room at City Hall, earlier this week. The Democratic mayor said the gatherings are designed to both share information with the public about the city’s financial situation and the difficult choices officials face in compiling next year’s spending plan.
“Mostly, I’m trying to convey to the public information,” Madden said. ”If they have feedback, great, but a lot of it is, I’m going to be sharing what I’ve learned, the challenges and conflicts we have in our budget process, and explain what my approach to this is going to be.”
But while Mantello, R-at large, said she agrees with opening the budget process to more public
participation and scrutiny, she said the mayor does not have the authority to schedule any official meeting involving a quorum of council members. In addition, she questioned the mayor’s decision to schedule the workshops so close to the deadline for submitting his budget proposal to the council
“The mayor is free to ask the council to hold a workshop and or a finance committee meeting, which seems kind of questionable at this late period of time,” Mantello said by email. “It’s clear the president of the council can call a workshop of the council and the mayor cannot call a council workshop.”
Madden, however, said Mantello is simply misunderstanding the purpose of the meeting.
“This isn’t a council workshop; this is a mayoral workshop,” Madden explained. “If you want to talk about it in terms of a meeting and that helps, fine. It’s just an effort to reach out and change the way we’ve done budgeting in the past.”
Madden and council members have admitted since taking office in January that compiling a budget would be particularly difficult this year after an audit by the state Comptroller’s Office determined the city could face a deficit of as much as $2.4 million in the current budget as a result of ‘poor budgeting’ in previous years, mainly through underestimating expenses and overestimating revenues. A private auditor hired by the current council earlier this year estimated, however, that the deficit could actually go as high as $3.9 million.
In an email thread obtained by The Record, Mantello told Madden after receiving an invitation to the workshops that any such meeting involving a majority of the council requires her authorization under the council’s own rules. She also pointed out that while she would consider calling such a meeting at the mayor’s request, the budget process already includes a multitude of opportunities for the public to participate.
“I must note that starting in October the Council will hold at least 10 committee meetings with appropriate department heads at which the public may ask and receive questions pertaining to the budget,” she wrote in her email to Madden. “Additionally, at least 3 public hearings will be held prior to budget adoption.”
That email prompted an angry response by Councilman Robert Doherty, DDistrict 4, who called Mantello’s reply to the mayor “rude and inappropriate.”
“Should you wish to attend great,” Doherty wrote. “If not, don’t attend. To think the Mayor cannot invite us to a meeting is baseless to the reality of the fact that he is the Mayor of Troy and you are not.”
Mantello defended herself against Doherty’s criticism, however, replying that she is only ensuring the council and Madden follow the appropriate rules.
“My response to the Mayor is not one of being rude, but offering the Mayor the opportunity to follow normal procedures and rules,” she wrote in her reply. “It is my responsibility as Council President that the council rules and city charter are being complied with at all times.
“Obviously, the council didn’t follow the rules, the charter, and accountability procedures over the last several years. This council will not go down that path.”
While Mantello questioned the legality of the mayor scheduling the workshops, she said the bigger question is why Madden has yet to take any significant actions to address the city’s budget woes
“The real issue is, what has the the mayor done since January to change the way city hall’s being run,” Mantello said by email. “The council has not seen any comptroller recommendations or independent auditor recommendations. ... The council took the bull by the horns, hired an independent auditor, saved tens of thousands of dollars, and developed a Corrective Action Plan [to respond to criticisms in the state comptroller’s audit].”
But Madden said that is far from the truth, explaining that while the council has gotten more publicity for its audit and other actions, his administration has been looking at the structure of city government, with an eye towards making it more efficient and cost-effective.
“I take issue with that,” Madden said of Mantello’s assertion. “We’ve done a lot. We’ve reformed a lot of systems the [state] comptroller has issues with. It’s not a very public item, not a very sexy item, kind of wonky, but critical to be done nonetheless.”
He said the administration has especially focused its attention on the looming deficit in the current budget and is confident the city will not end the year in the red, even after the loss of $750,000 in anticipated revenue included in this year’s budget from the sales of the former city hall site in Monument Square and the riverfront Scolite property that was once home to the Rensselaer Iron Works.
“We’ve held the line on hiring, we’ve held off on filling vacancies longer, we’ve cut things,” Madden explained.
“We’re operating in a very lean fashion, and we’re pretty comfortable we’ll get through the year, despite that loss of revenue, and break even.”