Sanghvi: It Wasn’t My Fault. I Didn’t Know What I Was Doing

Former Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Finance Minita Sanghvi has posted a defense on her personal Facebook page of her management of the city’s finances during her two years in office. The city has found that she ran deficits in every budget she crafted during her four years in office, including the current budget under which the city is operating, which shows an approximately $5 million deficit.

Sanghvi cites all the increases in costs during her terms as contributing to the city’s financial problems, and they are considerable. It is true that retirement costs, health insurance, etc. have all been increasing, contributing to financial stress in many local municipalities, including Saratoga. Sanghvi does, however, make one stunning admission of culpability on her part alone: her failure to plan how the city would pay for major expenses incurred on her watch and with her support. Consistent with her chronic mismanagement, she seems unaware of the gravity of her admission. In her piece, she writes:

Now here is the thing about fire-fighters overtime. The mayor signed an agreement with the fire-fighters union about making sure there were 4 people on a firetruck. There are several studies that show that this is safer for fire-fighters. But it is also important to note that in Saratoga Springs a mayor can sign ANY agreement with unions on their pay, benefits, etc. without getting a financial impact statement from the Finance department. I should have asked the mayor to wait on that agreement and should have provided the city a financial impact statement as they do at the county. (But this is something I have learned from my time as County Supervisor) [JK:Emphasis added]

So, what is a “financial impact study?” It is a fancy phrase for whether something is affordable. It is beyond stunning that Sanghvi would make this statement, because it speaks to the folly of all her budgets that included many additional items for the city’s operations, which she approved and voted for, for which she apparently did not bother to conduct “impact statements.”

She Was Warned

In a post way back on October 5, 2022, I warned in this blog that the SAFER grant to hire the sixteen firefighters that the city had applied for was a time bomb. I wrote to Sanghvi repeatedly, asking what the plan was for paying for these additional firefighters after the grant ended, and never received a reply.

When Mayor Kim brought the contract with the firefighters’ union, referred to in the above quote, before the Council for adoption, he cavalierly noted that the city’s labor attorney had warned him to include a sunset clause in the agreement, which he dismissed. The contract, which Sanghvi voted for, would require the city to spend approximately an additional $2,000,000.00 a year to cover the cost of these firefighters once the federal grant ended. Sanghvi now admits as Finance Commissioner she should have planned for this. It is truly amazing that in four years as Finance Commissioner this never occurred to her. Since it is in the contract without a sunset clause, we are perpetually locked into paying this money. It is a major factor in the city’s current fiscal crisis.

Her Statement

I have made it a policy not to respond to attacks. But I am tired of the people trying to reframe my record as finance commissioner. HERE ARE SOME FACTS:

We submitted the Annual Financial Report to the State Comptroller on time all 4 years.

My team and the city maintained AA+ credit rating all 4 years.

All budgets were presented on time and adopted on time (unlike many other municipalities around) without exceeding the tax cap.

And the city had a “no designation” for its fiscal stress score (which means that the city was not under fiscal stress).

AND we collected 12 years’ worth of delinquent taxes that the new administration stalled as soon as they took office.

I was the most transparent Finance Commissioner providing information on our revenues (which were good) and our rising expenses and overtime (which were major constraints). I did this at every meeting and especially during budget season.

Here is what happened – Our economy jumped back after 2020. But so did inflation.

An ambulance that cost $180,000 in 2019 was costing $587,000 in 2026.

Other costs went up –

Liability Insurance went up 188% increasing from $834,732 in 2022 to $2,408,693 to 2026

There was an 86% increase in retirement costs from $4,441,742 from 2022 to $9,951,409 to 2026

Health Insurance costs increased 27% from $7,823,776 to $9,951,409

This is all published data from the city budgets that I have presented. Almost every budget season we talked about the rising costs and beseeched the departments to cut costs and stop hiring new people.

During this time the public safety budget went up over $10 million. And yet, they were constantly going over budget because of overtime. Now here is the thing about fire-fighters overtime. The mayor signed an agreement with the fire-fighters union about making sure there were 4 people on a firetruck. There are several studies that show that this is safer for fire-fighters. But it is also important to note that in Saratoga Springs a mayor can sign ANY agreement with unions on their pay, benefits, etc. without getting a financial impact statement from the Finance department. I should have asked the mayor to wait on that agreement and should have provided the city a financial impact statement as they do at the county. (But this is something I have learned from my time as County Supervisor)

We tried our best to plan better so we were better financially prepared for the future. We created the strategic budget and forecasting group and we tried to get better forecasts for future expenses and revenues. We worked with different departments to help them better understand the financial issues. I also requested both mayors that I served with to help create a strategic plan for the city so we were all working towards the same vision.

Inflation and rising costs are hitting many cities around the country. Closer to home, Schenectady, Albany and many other cities are going through the exact same issue. So, trying to blame me for something that is happening everywhere is just petty politics.

Minita Sanghvi