Candidates challenge Dougherty on budget
Candidates and Town Board members insisted Supervisor Dougherty’s 2012 preliminary town budget is too low on the expenses side and challenged many numbers line by line during last week’s first round of budget talks on Thursday and Friday. The current 2011 budgets totals more than $10.4 million while Mr. Dougherty’s proposal totals less than $9.7 million in spending.
Councilman Ed Brown predicted at one point the final budget would be 10 percent higher than the 2011 spending plan. Mr. Reich said the following day of Thursday’s budget session, “Yesterday we added $865,000 to the budget” putting in required numbers that he said the supervisor’s plan did not include. More sessions are scheduled through the month.
The Town Board must finalize the budget and hold a public hearing on it in time to adopt a final plan by November 20.
Councilmen Glenn Waddington, who is running for supervisor, and Peter Reich, who is running for re-election, at Thursday’s meeting challenged the expense/revenue ratio and Councilman Ed Brown, who is not up for reelection, joined the questioning, asking Mark Ketcham, the outgoing highway supervisor, several tough questions about his department’s budget.
“We need to know what’s going on,” Mr. Brown said. “You’re going to be asked that again, so don’t get bothered by it,” he said.
Mr. Dougherty’s budget total for the Highway Department is significantly lower than the current year’s spending.
As Mr. Dougherty and Mr. Ketcham went through the budget line by line, the supervisor urged Mr. Ketcham to accept lower amounts than what Mr. Ketcham had requested.
Mr. Brown seemed convinced the department’s budget was being underestimated. Mr. Brown questioned “Landfill–Hauling” going from $145,000 to $110,000. Mr. Ketcham defended the change, saying the Town was recycling more, and that “carting expenses” were less. Mr. Dougherty said to Mr. Brown, “It sounds like you’re upset at lower numbers.”
“If I’m upset about anything,” it’s that “it should be 10 percent more. Why did they go down?” Mr. Brown asked.
Explaining why the expense for a federally funded erosion control project on the Ram Island causeways on page 42 of the budget proposal is lower than total grant number — $822,315 versus $1,432,521 — Mr. Dougherty and Mr. Ketcham said similar work on Shell Beach a few years ago had been projected at $1.2 million but came in at $612,000. “We’re looking for the same situation for the causeway,” Mr. Ketcham said. Mr. Dougherty said of the Cashin & Associates, the engineering firm, “They’re very conservative.”
Mr. Brown said that the expense side had to equal the revenue side.
Of the page one headline in last week’s Reporter that “Dougherty calls for 1.2-percent rise in spending, taxes,” Mr. Waddington said “that figure is not going to stand.” He mentioned the budget lines for the assessors office and another salaried employee, noting they were partly or entirely missing for the spending plan.
“We’re at 10 percent plus,” said Mr. Brown of the actual budget numbers for 2012 versus 2011. Councilman Peter Reich later predicted an increase of 8 or 9 percent.
Mr. Reich presented his own table of Highway Department salaries Friday morning, saying he had completed it at 10 p.m. the night before. He questioned the way Mr. Ketcham’s budget had employees listed according to different jobs and categories so they had multiple salary figures.
“You’re going to see these names throughout the budget because these names multi-task,” Mr. Ketcham said. Mr. Reich said there needed to be a total by person, not just by department, describing finding the actual numbers as “Where’s Waldo?”
“Last year you wanted it broken out. This year, you want it totaled,” Mr. Ketcham said.
