Councilmembers debate budget line items

The Monroe Town Board continued its review of the preliminary budget for 2025, during its October 21 meeting. Ahead of the public hearing, Monroe Town Supervisor Tony Cardone reported that the current budget is $397,884 over the tax cap and he’s working with the various departments to get this number down. While there was no public comment on the budget, councilmembers Mary Bingham and Maureen Richardson each presented their concerns with what was being proposed.

Bingham brought up a question posed by a resident at the previous meeting regarding the cost of the town’s comprehensive plan. Cardone said the plan will take more than 12 months and would be filed over multiple years and that the entire plan would not be put into this budget. Bingham clarified that she believed the resident’s concern was that the town would not have enough money to do the comprehensive plan, and that more money should be added to the budget to ensure that it could be started sooner rather than later. Richardson also weighed in, saying that she believed the town was well overdue in its promise to redo the comprehensive plan every five years. Cardone disagreed, saying the town was less than two years overdue.

Bingham also contested what she saw as unfair charges on residents of water districts, who contribute to the town’s solar farm under shared services. She said residents are being billed double and even triple for this service, as these charges are included in what they must contribute, both to the town and as a member of a water and/or sewer district. Bingham said she disagrees with how the funding for the solar farm was originally allocated and that she reached out to State Senator James Skoufis’ office for guidance.

Cardone claimed that in a prior meeting Bingham agreed with the way things were handled and that the funds were allocated properly. He also shared his view that her objection was based on a resident who did not want the solar farm in town.

During her review of the budget, Richardson questioned why the town was paying $18,500 to Cardone for his role as budgetary officer and said this seemed high for this area. She mentioned the town previously had a comptroller and claimed that traditionally the second budgetary officer was paid $4,000. Cardone said the comptroller’s salary was around $70,000 and that the budget officer position was created when the comptroller was no longer working for the town. Still, Richardson contended that the $18,500 was a lot of money for a budget officer salary, given that that person is also the town supervisor.

Richardson also questioned the fund balance of -$990,000, arguing that the town needed to do more to reduce operating costs. Cardone claimed that her concerns were out of worry about her electability and asked her how she would like him to reduce that number. The Supervisor also shared that rising expenses in areas such as benefits and pensions have impacted what the town can provide within its discretionary spending. He added that he has spoken with seven other supervisors who are facing similar challenges.

Addressing the budget for the town attorney, Richardson claimed town attorney Brian Nugent was only representing the Republican majority on the board. Cardone contested her statement, claiming that Richardson continued to share false rhetoric.

Nugent said that he was the attorney for the town board and that if three board members direct counsel to do something, he is obligated to do that, and that if two members direct him to do something without the third person to form a majority, he would not do that. The attorney also made a claim, which Richardson denied, that the councilwoman said if the town were to hire another attorney and she didn’t agree with their opinion, she would want another attorney.

In other legal matters, Bingham asked the board to consider going out to bid for a legal contractual prosecutor, claiming that the $77,000 allotted for this position in the proposed budget was too high. Bingham said that the amount represented a $20,000 increase over the prior year’s budget. Cardone told Bingham that if she wanted to go out to bid for this she could do so, and the board approved a motion for this action.

Among the other budgetary matters discussed was the fate of Flagship Cinemas, both Bingham and Richardson noted that its revenue was listed at zero. Richardson said the public should be aware the theater was not bringing in any money, and that while she understood its importance to the community, she wanted them to be aware of its costs and the loss in potential tax revenue from the property. Cardone suggested the theater’s problems were mostly due to difficulties recovering from the pandemic and that the matter should not have been discussed publicly. Richardson and Bingham disagreed, noting that budget time was why they were raising the issue.

Bingham also voiced her concerns over the proposed salaries, noting that some departments were seeking 10% increases, while others were, in her words, being more realistic at 4%.

The board voted to keep the public hearing for the 2025 budget open until November 7.