By Stephanie Petrellese

Those who attended the March 18th Garden City Board of Trustees budget work session experienced another tense evening, as members of the Citizens' Budget Review Committee and trustees argued once again who was at fault for the Village's budget problems.

Deputy Mayor John Mauk, who is chairperson of the Board's finance committee, placed blame on a Board decision two years ago to follow a CBRC recommendation to take money out of reserves to keep the tax rate low, and their recommendation to remove $1.7 million that was set aside for St. Paul's School maintenance to keep last year's tax rate low. The money was removed from the fund established for that purpose, added as revenue and returned to the taxpayers to reduce the tax rate.

The CBRC argues that along with the recommendation to use reserves to achieve a zero tax increase, were also stringent ways to cut costs and exert better management controls, which the Village did not follow.

They also are angry that, in their opinion, their 15-page report filled with recommendations was not properly addressed. Mauk denies their claim, saying that they were just not happy that some of their recommendations were not accepted by the Board.

The committee was also displeased when their questions and comments were not acknowledged by Mauk and the Board until the very end of the March 18th meeting. "In the previous five meetings there was an actual dialogue between our committee and the Trustees and Village senior administrators," CRBC member Bill Goldschein told the Garden City News a few days later. "However, from the outset of this meeting, Chairman Mauk and Mayor Bee shut down all conversation and questions. The meeting started with another 25-minute soliloquy by Chairman Mauk, which included a strong rebuke of the Citizens' Budget Review Committee as the culprits behind the crisis. Without a chance to address any of the Chairman's comments, it was then turned over to Police Commissioner Cipullo to discuss a recent successful case handled by Garden City detectives.

"It almost seemed like a 'staged event' to play to the larger audience and strike fear in the residents attending the meeting. The Commissioner seemed to indicate that at the last meeting a member of our committee suggested that we could completely eliminate the detective staff, which I quite frankly do not remember hearing at the previous meetings. He also seemed to say the residents of Garden City can afford this type of protection.

"Once again, when the commissioner was done, we again were not permitted to respond or ask any questions as Mayor Bee invoked parliamentary procedures and eliminated all conversation and questions. By the time the three-hour meeting ended, most of the residents who were there to hear all the trustees vote against user fees on our ball fields had left, and while three questions were allowed in the last five minutes, it was very disappointing to have the meeting end the way it did."

Mayor Bee defended the Board's actions. "It's unfortunate that, despite repeated explanations, the Board of Trustees' procedure remains so badly misunderstood by some of the CBRC's members," he told the Garden City News via e-mail. "Last Wednesday's meeting was not a 'public hearing' at which the Board was scheduled to hear from members of the public. Rather, as deliberations on a new budget neared an end, and after full consideration of CBRC suggestions, the Board needed time to debate and deliberate amongst its members. That was the purpose of last Wednesday. While the Board did entertain some questions and comments, the primary purpose of the meeting was for the Board to reach a consensus based on the materials and suggestions that had been submitted up to that point. Fortunately, the meeting was extremely productive, and the Board's current proposed budget reflects cuts of about $2.5 million dollars in expenses compared to last year."

As chair of the Board's finance committee, Mauk was responsible for leading the budget work session and also took issue with Goldschein's opinion. He responded to the Garden City News via e-mail: "The job of the trustees each year is to strike an appropriate balance between the level of municipal services the residents require and demand, and the cost for such services to the taxpayers. That task was made much more difficult this year because of the economic downturn. With that in mind, the meeting last Wednesday entailed a systematic, point-by-point public analysis by the trustees of potential line-item budget cuts and revenue enhancements. As anyone who attended the meeting observed, all of the trustees had a full opportunity to ask questions and express their views about the desirability of possible cuts and new user fees before any decisions were made. No comments were taken from the floor, and no one item or group of constituents was the focus of all, or even most, of the discussion. Trustees called on staff as necessary to answer questions about the likely implication of many of the proposed cuts and new fees.

"Nor do I think our Police Commissioner, Ernie Cipullo, would agree with Mr. Goldschein's pronouncement that the meeting was somehow 'staged' to bolster the Commissioner's request to maintain police staffing at current levels. By the end of the evening, the trustees had tentatively agreed to remove line items from the budget for four police positions and one civilian police dispatcher. This was done despite objections from Mr. Cipullo that service levels may suffer as a result. Because of Mr. Cipullo's expressed concerns, however, the trustees also reserved the right to revisit this issue depending on changed circumstances during the budget year.

"Overall, I think the Board achieved the satisfactory balance we were looking for by the end of the evening, and a tentative budget that we can all live with. In any budgeting process, however, someone is always going to be unhappy if their personal views aren't accepted. As I have often reminded Mr. Goldschein and other members of the CBRC this year, however, the elected Mayor and Trustees, not the members of the CBRC, have responsibility for determining the Village fiscal and operating policy. We take that responsibility very seriously."

Mayor-elect Robert Rothschild told the Garden City News that he has already discussed with several presidents of the property owners' associations the need for changes next year to make the relationship between the CRBC and Board less tenuous. "It should not be as controversial as it has become," he said.

Dennis Donnelly, who will take his oath as a new trustee at the next Board meeting on April 6th, played an integral role as president of the Eastern Property Owners' Association in reauthorizing the CBRC to review this year's budget. "The CBRC is authorized each year by the four POA presidents," he explained to the Garden City News via e-mail. "The representatives are comprised of two people from each POA. The actual individuals have changed each year during the three years that the CBRC has existed.

"This year, the exchanges between the BOT and the CBRC became particularly antagonistic and heated. The citizens' committee designated to represent the POAs, yet they as a group nor as individuals ever met with the POAs to ask for direction or to report their progress. By ignoring the very groups who appointed them and then exposing their mandate from the POAs, they have left the property owners' groups questioning the rationale in appointing them.

"The intent in forming the group three years ago was to assist the village BOT in arriving at a budget. There was never an intent to form a shadow government, or opposition junta to usurp the elected government of the village.

"The recommendations of the CBRC were each reviewed by the BOT and either adopted or rejected based on numerous factors. The committee's recommendations go far beyond monetary suggestions and some would change the very nature of what makes Garden City great.

"No one wants to pay any additional taxes, but we also don't want to be Levittown either. We could do away with our paid fire department, we could eliminate the detective division of the police department, we could have garbage picked up by an outside concern, we could eliminate leaf pickup, we could stop many other things the village currently does, but each of these and many more of our village functions have been reviewed by the BOT and are deemed not to be cut at the present time.

"The committee will be reviewed by the POAs in the new year. The new presidents and boards of the respective property owners' associations will make appointments to the CBRC as they see fit."

Village Justice Allen Mathers added his opinion on the budget committee at the next evening's regular Board of Trustees meeting. "I dislike citizens' budget committees that come in with a slash and burn attitude, looking at our Village as if it's a corporation, and we're going to cut things out of the corporation and destroy the way of life that we have," he said.

Robert Sundius, a member of the CBRC, told the Garden City News that the committee had no comment.

The meeting was moved to the high school cafeteria to accommodate the unusually large crowd. Garden City resident Ronald Tadross held up a sign "No Tolerance For Tax Increases" and his wife asked residents to sign a petition which asked trustees not to raise taxes. Tadross said they forwarded 50 signatures to the Board.

Tadross is particularly concerned about health care and pension costs, and believes the Village should hire a professional negotiator to deal with the unions. "It's a microcosm of what's going on in this country," he said about the tension felt at the budget work session. "People are not happy."

The audience once again included a large group of paid and volunteer firefighters. They have been attending the last few budget sessions to show their opposition to proposals being considered at the time, which included closing a firehouse and/or staffing with volunteers on weekends in an attempt to lower overtime costs.

An incident that occurred near the end of the meeting also served to heighten tension among the crowd. Mayor-elect Rothschild recommended that Police Commissioner Cipullo meet with Jerry Tuomey, a member of the CBRC and a "police expert," according to Rothschild, to discuss the department's budget, which includes high overtime costs. Cipullo lost his temper and shouted that he refused to meet with Tuomey. He said he checked into his background and cast aspersions on his police experience as a precinct commander. Mayor Bee rose minutes later and took Cipullo aside in an apparent attempt to calm the situation.

The day after the meeting, Cipullo acknowledged to the Garden City News that he lost his temper. He said he approached Tuomey after the meeting, apologized and shook his hand. Tuomey did not respond to a request for comment.