Acting city manager Richard Herbek read an article describing how bad the economic situation was in the city back in 2009 while the mayor, comptroller and city council members look on.
By Nancy Peckenham
The city of Newburgh is already on the road to financial recovery and doesn’t need any more assistance from the state, according to mayor Nicholas Valentine and acting city manager Richard Herbek who held a press conference on Monday to counter calls for the state to intervene to avoid more large property tax hikes.
Mayor Valentine rejected calls for the creation of a Municipal Assistance Corporation to run the city, saying the city would have to pay for the service and arguing that the city had already explored every possibility. “The city has used every opportunity to get every help we could get from the state,” Valentine said. “We exhausted every one of them.”
Mayor and Manager Reject Municipal Assistance Corporation
Last week, the two officials turned down a proposal from state senator Bill Larkin to introduce legislation that would set up a Municipal Assistance Corporation to run the city until its financial house is in order. Larkin drafted a bill calling for the legislation in response to demands from both local residents and business leaders who are concerned about the city’s ability to get on firm financial footing alone. Residents in particular are concerned that another large tax increase will put the burden of recovery on them. After a 71 percent tax increase this year, property owners signed a petition asking for state intervention and created a new organization, Change Newburgh, to push for that help.
City Says It Will Keep 2012 Tax Increase to 2 Percent
Acting city manager Herbek said on Monday that the city intends to keep a two percent cap on property taxes in next year’s budget. The fiscal plan approved last year under the Newburgh Fiscal Recovery Act of 2010 called for a 28 percent tax increase in 2012, a prospect that had alarmed many city residents who took to the streets last month in protest.
Currently the governor’s office is working on a plan to limit increases to two percent statewide. Herbek said he believes that plan will go through and that the city needs to limit spending in order to comply.
Topping the list of places to cut spending are the city’s police and civil service employees. Herbek said the city is currently negotiating with their unions to cut costs without layoffs. If they don’t get the concessions they need, he said, layoffs could follow.
Mayor Valentine praised the new budget reporting documents, unlike what he had received in the past.
New Budget Procedures Provides Greater Oversight, Mayor Says
Mayor Valentine expressed great satisfaction with how the city’s finances are being handled since the state imposed reporting requirements with the passing of the fiscal recovery act. He noted that in his first 11 years in office, he never received a quarterly report and acting manager Herbek said that when he started in September of 2009, “the city was a week away from having no money in the bank for payroll and operations.” Comptroller Cheryl Gross read from her monthly report for May, which showed a balanced budget with revenue running ahead expenses.
Neighborhood activists from Community Voices Heard earlier denounced the mayor’s rejection of more state assistance, calling it a “betrayal.” Council woman Marge Bell also criticized the move, saying the council had never voted on it.
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