As the readers of this blog will have noticed, I have studiously avoided writing about issues that were not local in nature. The focus of this blog has always been on how to make Saratoga Springs a better place. This is something that, in general, has brought together people from all political parties and from a broad spectrum from the left to the right.
I have worked hard and have successfully built a large readership during the last seven years. I know that addressing the events in Israel and Gaza will probably alienate many of the readers of this blog, but I feel impelled to respond to the current crisis.
I am a Jew. I grew up in a non-religious household that nevertheless identified deeply with the Jewish people.
The Holocaust was very much a part of my childhood. I had two cousins that were fraternal twins who endured and survived the experiments of the Nazi Doctor Joseph Mengele. One of my earliest memories (I was probably only three) was being in a large terminal in New York City to greet them when they disembarked from a ship.
My parents were people with the highest ethical standards and the greatest compassion. They supported the civil rights movement. Early on, as patriotic Americans, they supported the war in Vietnam, but they became disillusioned with that ill-fated war and eventually joined those who called for peace.
They would have, were they alive, shared my horror at the events of October 7, 2023, at the deaths of innocent Jewish civilians perpetrated by Hamas. They abhorred violence.
Having said that, they would also share my horror at the assault on Gaza. The images of Gazans attempting to dig out the bodies of children with their bare hands killed by Israeli bombs would have shaken them as they have me.
They would have been appalled by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the Israeli people asking them to remember the Amalek. For those of you not familiar with this reference from the Hebrew scriptures, Yahweh (our God) directed the Jewish people to annihilate Amalek and his people.
“From man unto woman, from infant unto suckling, from ox unto sheep, so that the name of Amalek not be mentioned even with reference to an animal by saying ‘This animal belonged to Amalek’.”.
When you consider that 47.3% of the population of Gaza are children, this is a particularly hideous allusion.
The killing of non-combatants and the denial of food and water to the people of Gaza is a form of collective punishment in violation of international law.
The belief that this kind of horrific violence against unarmed Palestinians will bring about some resolution to the conflict that is at the root of this war is madness.
Most people are unaware that Netanyahu is responsible for creating Hamas in an ill-fated strategy to weaken Yassir Arafat and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. October 7 demonstrated the folly of that delusional stratagem.
What do Netanyahu and his government plan to do with the 2.1 million Palestinians living in Gaza? Will his government somehow drive all these people into the Egyptian desert? Will the Israeli Defense Force occupy Gaza indefinitely? It is hard to understand where all this will lead.
Like so many other military misadventures, this will not end well. It didn’t end well for the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan in spite of massive expenditures and many soldiers’ and civilians’ lives.
I originally studied to be a historian. My reading of history is that this will not end well, not for the Palestinians and not for the Israelis.
As election day nears, Saratoga Springs Mayor Ron Kim and his supporters have doubled down on their false narrative that somehow Travelers Insurance dropped the city’s liability coverage “because of legal exposure from investigations into the previous administration.” This is demonstrably not true, as is proven by the letter Travelers sent to the city on September 14 that clearly stated, “The City of Saratoga Springs’ approach to risk and safety management creates an unacceptable increase in the hazards contemplated for the city. Therefore, we are nonrenewing your policy effective 1/1/24.” Ron Kim is responsible for dismantling the city’s long-respected Risk and Safety program.
Nevertheless, Kim continues to repeat this falsehood in the mailers he is sending to voters, and this is now being amplified on social media by the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee and other Kim supporters.
This is from the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee Website
Under the ironic headline of “Let’s Set the Record Straight,” this Facebook post does the opposite, once again repeating Kim’s lie that the city is “…changing liability insurers because of legal exposure from investigations into the previous administration.”
Aside from the clear evidence in the Traveler’s letter that this had nothing to do with the policy’s cancellation, it is also worth noting that the city’s insurance policy did not even cover the legal costs of the officials who have been targeted in an investigation by the Attorney General. It is strange that Kim is now bizarrely trying to tie Travelers to these legal fees as he has routinely waved a paper around at Council meetings complaining about what the city is having to pay for these legal costs. So, these legal costs were not borne by Travelers and could, therefore, have had no direct impact on their decision.
Also, in this post (which is a repeat of a mailer Kim recently sent out), Harry Bucciferro boldly makes the obviously false claim that, as regards the city’s insurance, “…Ron Kim has put the city in a good position for 2024…”
Given that Travelers Insurance refuses to continue to underwrite the city and the cost of replacing Travelers is expected to cost north of $800,000.00 more a year, this does not appear to be a great position for Saratoga Springs to be in. Not to mention that Kim has no plan to address the concerns of a lack of an adequate Risk and Safety program that was the cause of losing Travelers Insurance coverage in the first place.
Bucciferro also praises Kim for “…having started the process months ago for coverage with municipal insurers in New York while still talking with local insurance brokers.”
Well, it is November, and Kim has yet to announce who the new carrier will be, what kind of coverage they will offer, and at what cost. According to the city’s proposed budget, it is expected that our insurance rate is going to skyrocket. Kim did not even tell the city they had to find a new carrier until the information was leaked only a couple of weeks ago; so much for transparency.
Finally, the post proclaims that “There will be no gap in insurance,” as though anyone has claimed this. The issue is not whether the city will be able to get insurance. The issue is how much it will cost.
Former Dem City Chair and Kim Fan Sarah Burger Amplifies the Disinformation
Below is a screenshot from Sarah Burger’s Facebook page.
Ms. Burger, a past chair of the city’s Democratic Committee and Kim supporter, repeated the Kim post on her Facebook page.
Ms. Burger continues the useless observation that the city will have insurance. Ms. Burger is fully aware that the issue is not whether the city will be insured but what it will cost.
Will the Disinformation Campaign Work?
In spite of the best efforts of Kim and his supporters, Kim cannot get away from the brutal truth that the chaos he created with the city’s Risk and Safety program will cost millions of dollars in additional premiums and deductibles, along with a downgrading of our bond rating.
[JK: I received this article from a reader of this blog drilling down on the origins of the city’s Risk and Safety program that Kim has dismantled.]
2002 Just Called, and They Want Their Risk and Safety Back! Mayor Kim is Moving Saratoga Backwards- all the way to 2002.
New Insurance Lies with the Unlikely Support of Yet Another Campaign Donor.
Mayor Kim’s new Facebook Ad has Harry Bucciferro claiming that “Mayor Kim has put the City in a good position for 2024.”
Ron Kim writes, “There will be no gap in insurance.”
How did the City of Saratoga Springs come up with such a strong Risk and Safety program before Ron Kim single-handedly dismantled it, leaving the city no choice but to find a new insurer?
None other than Harry Bucciferro, who was the City’s Insurance consultant and pioneer of the plan for a dedicated Risk and Safety Manager over two decades ago. Follow along starting with details from the October 12, 2002 City Council Meeting. That’s right, 2002!
City Receives Notice of Non-Renewal from Insurance Carrier
In 2002, Commissioner of Accounts Stephen Towne reported the City received a notice of non-renewal from its insurance carrier. He stated, “The City had not developed serious consideration of the need for a strong risk and safety management program.”That sounds eerily familiar to my 2023 ears. It is further stated in the minutes that it was evident when the city received very few responses to the insurance proposals sought. He surmised that the appointed safety officer, whose duties were combined with his regular job, was obviously not working.
The minutes noted that the City’s insurance costs increased 100% to a combined total of more than 1 million dollars. Towne said, “This was too large a figure for the City Council not to take action.” In what must seem like a foreign concept to the current City Council, instead of just accepting the fate of indefinitely putting this burden on taxpayers, Commissioner Towne decided to take action. Here is what he did over two decades ago. Write that down, Ron Kim. It’s going to be on the test!
Risk Management Advisory Committee- with Harry Bucciferro, The City’s Insurance Consultant
Towne created this committee, which he asserted was “a group of highly qualified and respected individuals from the community” to review and make recommendations to the City Council. Due to the incompetence of this current City Council, it’s hard to remember a time when the City Council sought to save money instead of spending taxpayer money through endless resolutions. Did I miss a resolution that was passed to plant a money tree grove, or is the excessive fund balance the tree that keeps on giving?
Harry Bucciferro Makes Recommendations
After the city’s insurer conducted an evaluation, Mr. Bucciferro said, “The Risk Management Advisory Committee feels strongly that the City Council must take the initiative to establish a Safe City Program that will provide overall management direction and initiative to each City Department.” Recommendation #2 is arguably the most successful component in creating the strong Risk and Safety Program the City was known for and which fostered excellent relationships with City insurers, spurring faith in the City’s commitment to Risk and Safety, resulting in excellent insurance rates the City enjoyed until Ron Kim unleashed a wrecking ball to annihilate the program.
The following are from Mr. Bucciferro as part of the minutes of the October 2002 meeting minutes.
Recommendation #1:
The City Council should adopt a revised safety policy statement that reflects a strong commitment to a Safe City Program.
Recommendation #2:
The City Council authorizes the following positions to implement the Safety Policy and the Safe City Program: City Risk Manager & Human Resources Administrator. He noted that the Charter already provides for the institution of a Human Resources Director, however, the committee felt strongly that there needs to be a Risk Manager to conduct inspections, investigate claims, and report to the Council.
After reviewing the audit by the insurance company and discussing it, the committee recommended creating the position of Risk Manager. The Risk and Safety Manager saved the City sums that could have paid the salary for this position many times over. Bucciferro even chimes in at a later City Council meeting about the money saved as a result of the City Council approving the recommendation to hire a Risk and Safety Manager. This only leaves readers to speculate what hidden mutually beneficial relationship Bucciferro might have with Ron Kim that would cause Bucciferro to go against what he himself had recommended in 2002.
Bucciferro Tells Mayor Klotz there needs to be a separate Risk and Safety Manager Position
Here is where Bucciferro clearly clarifies what the City needs to do. Mayor Kenneth Klotz asked, “If it was the Committee’s recommendation to add the Risk Manager duties to the City of Saratoga Springs Human Resources Director.” Mr. Bucciferro doubles down, telling Mayor Klotz, “No, they would be two separate positions.” There you have it. This position should not be absorbed into other employees’ job duties. It did not work when attempted prior to the 2002 insurance non-renewal letter, and it didn’t work prior to the 2023 insurance non-renewal letter resulting from Ron Kim assigning the tremendous amount of duties of the Risk and Safety Manager to Michael Phillips, the Assistant City Attorney. We could find no evidence of Mr. Phillips’ expert experience in Risk and Safety Management. Mr. Phillips’ linkedin biography contains no reference to certifications related to the highly regulated field of risk and safety.
Bucciferro’s Risk and Safety Management Plan Reviewed 3 Years Later
The proof is in the pudding! What an astonishingly positive impact this program was already having on the City! During the April 19, 2005, City Council meeting, insurance renewal discussions prompted Commissioner Towne to comment on the Risk and Safety Management function that he initiated in 2002. This included the hiring of the City’s first full-time Risk Manager, revitalizing the City’s long-dormant Safety Committee, better utilizing the expertise of the City’s insurance consultant, and developing a proactive partnership with NYMIR.
Towne stated, “The best indicator of the progress being made in this “Safe City” program is from a quantitative perspective.” Check out these results!
The claims are down.
Renewal costs are approximately $100,000 below budget and the results of a lot of hard work.
Towne said, “Thanks should be given to the Risk and Safety Manager, Marilyn Rivers, who has led many effective initiatives.” [JK: In a truly ironic twist, Bucciferro was on the original committee that selected Marilyn Rivers as the city’s Risk and Safety Officer. She was subsequently driven out of office by Kim, who Bucciferro is now campaigning for.]
“As well as to Harry Bucciferro, the City’s Insurance Consultant,and to the City’s Safety Committee.”
Bucciferro said there have been significant improvements in the operation and safety of City Departments because of council action.
Bucciferro said, “They projected a 17 or 18% increase, and there is actually no increase in the proposed policy for the May 2005 through May 2006 policy year.”
Here we are in 2023 with an insurance company sending a non-renewal letter stating that the city’s “Approach to Risk and Safety management creating an unacceptable increase in hazards contemplated for the City.” (Travelers’ letter). With the potential of premiums increasing by a million dollars a year. 21 Years later, Ron Kim has put the City back to where it was in 2002.
Shouldn’t Bucciferro be the first one to advise Kim that a strong program with a dedicated Risk and Safety Manager is what’s best in order to not only maintain insurance but to also get the best insurance rates for the city? Do his nearly $500 in contributions to Kim’s Political campaigns paint a picture of support of Kim over support of the City to which he made even more valuable contributions?
Remember, it’s not about being uninsurable. It’s about creating an environment that will reduce risks and premiums. Saratoga Springs can get insurance, but it will cost millions of dollars more than if there were a strong Risk and Safety Management program. Where are the estimates? Is it time for Kim to use taxpayer money from the huge fund balance “giving tree” to hire Bucciferro to come up with a Risk and Safety Management Plan? Wait, Bucciferro already created a very successful one that Kim destroyed. It’s like going Back to the Future. Come on. Wake up McFly!
Saratoga Springs Mayor Ron Kim recently sent out the following campaign flyer with a section ironically titled “Fact Check Alert!” that contains demonstrably false information:
In this mailer Mayor Kim shamelessly promotes the false narrative that the reason Travelers Insurance canceled the city’s liability insurance was due to expenses the city is incurring because of the Attorney General’s investigation. He has said this repeatedly at a variety of public events, and now he has included this falsehood in his mailer going out to voters in the final days of this election.
This is patently untrue and part of a regrettable pattern of false statements from Kim.
Here is the actual letter from Travelers in which they state that the actual reason they canceled the policy was that “The City of Saratoga Springs’ approach to risk and safety management creates an unacceptable increase in the hazards contemplated for the City.”
Scary Implications
So the obvious question is, does he actually believe what he’s telling voters in this mailer and in public statements he has been making?
The worst possibility is that he does. There is no sign that he has done anything to address Travelers’ actual concern.
Why would any well-run insurance company be willing to underwrite our city with a Mayor so divorced from the truth on such a critical issue? What vulnerabilities is the city subject to because of the breakdown of Risk and Safety?
Last year, the Saratoga Springs Accounts Department made a clerical error that, according to court papers, cost the Saratoga Springs City School District $215,400.00 in tax income. During the contentious discussion at the September 7, 2023, City Council meeting, Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran did not dispute that there had been a clerical error in his office, but Mayor Ron Kim questioned the amount which at the time of the meeting was $217,000.00. The central dispute, though, appeared to be the remedy. The city refuses to provide the school district with the lost income.
The issue is arcane, involving the city’s failure to include Quad Graphics on its tax rolls.
I have to admit that I do not fully understand the technical issues surrounding the error. In February, the Daily Gazette reported on it for those who want to explore the details. I have also included the full video of the presentation made to the Council at the bottom of this post, during which Eleanor Mullany, the attorney representing the School District, explains the error that precipitated the conflict.
Commissioner Dillon Moran has refused to support making the school district whole by paying the lost income. Instead, he advised the school district to either:
Resend all the tax bills to the over 20,000.00 taxpayers in the Saratoga Springs City School District which extends beyond the city’s boundaries.
Eat the loss. Moran lectured the Superintendent of the Saratoga Springs School District Mike Patton and Ms. Mullaney that $215,400.00 is a tiny fraction of the total school budget, so they should be able to make some minor cuts and absorb it.
The following is an excerpt from the presentation during which Ms. Mullaney attempts to explain to the Council why sending out twenty thousand revised tax notices would create chaos for the district.
Moran’s tone in responding is problematic. At one point, he accuses Ms. Mullaney of “misrepresenting the conversations we had.” As the excerpt below documents, he tells Mullaney, “We will see you in court.”
It was quite disturbing to observe Moran’s open hostility to the representatives of the school district, who were, in contrast, quite conciliatory.
The insurance carrier that underwrites the Saratoga Springs Fire Department’s vehicles (it may cover more items) has notified the city that due to a failure to pay its bill, the city’s policy will be canceled on November 8, 2023.
I do not know who was responsible for this screw-up, but since the notice was sent to Risk and Safety, one reasonably suspects that the City Assistant Attorney, Michael Phillips, who Mayor KIm has put in charge of Risk and Safety, may be the responsible party.
Saratoga Springs Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi’s proposed 2024 budget is a profoundly flawed document that raises taxes and raids the city’s fund balance (currently $3,000,000.00) while also not appropriately funding important needs of the city. It exposes her chronic inability to do the hard analysis required to ensure the proper functioning of our city.
A Commissioner Of Finance More Interested In Politics Than Budgets
In the following clip, Sanghvi asserts that the reason the city budget is so problematic is because of three factors:
Inflation
Mistakes made by the previous administration
The hiring of thirty employees during the last two years.
People who follow this blog know that as a result of the breakdown of the Risk and Safety Department, Travelers Insurance will no longer underwrite the city. A careful scrutiny of Sanghvi’s proposed budget reveals that Sanghvi has had to allocate an additional $800,000.00 to pay for insurance next year (it will be required every year for the foreseeable future). In fact, her number is just a guess because, to date, we have no carrier for 2024. When you add on the anticipated increase in deductibles and the expected decline in our bond rating, we are looking at a disastrous increase in the cost of running the city, and yet Sanghvi, for some reason, does not include any of this in her analysis of what is impacting the budget.
Sanghvi and Mayor Ron Kim continually blame the loss of Travelers on the cost Travelers has had to bear for representation of former city officials related to the Attorney General’s investigation. I challenge anyone to find out where Kim or Sanghvi have acknowledged the actual reason stated by Travelers for dropping the city, i.e., the breakdown of Risk and Safety, let alone try to explain it.
The suggestion made by Mayoral candidate John Safford at the October 23, 2023, City Council meeting that the city invite Travelers to help the city understand the problems with Risk and Safety and discuss how to address them was met by silence from the Council members.
Sanghvi has allocated no money to replace the Director of Risk and Safety. Kim insists that the Assistant City Attorney, who has no background or training in this area, has the time to handle the Risk and Safety full-time job in addition to his other responsibilities. Pretending the problem does not exist seems a form of magical thinking.
How Could Sanghvi Ignore The Insurance Disaster?
Two possibilities:
She lacks the ability or the willingness to effectively analyze the serious situation the city is in.
With the election looming, acknowledging the magnitude of the problem would necessitate having to address what actions Mayor Kim, who she supports, committed that led to this crisis.
Whichever you think it is, the failure of the city’s Commissioner of Finance to acknowledge the reality of our city’s finances in addressing the public raises profound questions of integrity and responsibility. She has allowed politics to supersede fiscal analysis. The following are just three examples of major problems with this proposed budget.
Don’t Have A Terrible Car Accident in Saratoga Springs
Sanghvi’s proposed budget is eerily similar to her 2023 budget. In that one she proposed no new hires but now complains that there were 30 hires after the budget was passed all of which she doesn’t mention she supported.
So it should come as no surprise that she has arbitrarily refused to fund items like a new jaws of life in her proposed budget. This is a device firemen use to cut through the metal of a car to free victims after a car crash. The city has some small ones that work in most situations, but the existing large one is over twenty years old, no longer functions, and needs to be replaced.
Public Works Commissioner Golub, who does not oversee the department responsible for this item, pointed out the need to fund it at the October 23, 2023, workshop. Sanghvi’s response was not to fund it but to suggest a risk analysis: “We need to do a risk analysis.” [JK: Maybe the analysis should have been done before the budget was published?]
This chilling incident should give the readers of this blog an idea of how poorly thought-out the proposed budget is.
Pound Foolish
Corissa Salvo is the city’s Civil Service Coordinator. She is among the most knowledgeable employees in her respective field in our city. To witness her extraordinary talents, watch this video of her presentation to the City Council at this budget workshop. Impressive.
In an extraordinarily well-crafted presentation that includes comparisons with other municipalities, she documents the fact that her office is badly understaffed. In fact, she shows, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the situation is sufficiently bad that the city is out of compliance with the state’s requirements for the management of civil service exams due to a lack of staff.
She essentially pleads with the Council to refund a third position in her office that has been vacant for approximately four years.
She also asks that her part-time staff member be granted a raise. She reminds the Council that her part-time person has not received a raise in three years. She notes that in an earlier meeting with Sanghvi’s office, she had advocated this and was asked where the money would come from. At the time, she told them the small amount of money could come from the medical exam budget. What did Commissioner Sanghvi do in response? She reduced the allocation for the medical exam budget but then did not use the money to raise the part-time employee’s salary.
Ms. Salvo also asked for a 4% raise, which is what the unionized city hall employees are getting.
While the other non-union employees, of which Ms. Salvo is one, are all getting a 2% raise, the difference is that the Council granted hefty raises to their Deputies last year but made no such accommodation for Ms. Salvo.
Ms. Salvo explained in her presentation that the only way she has been able to keep civil service afloat is by working extra unpaid hours.
I do not know how long Ms. Salvo will have to endure all of this, but given the many retirements and resignations among city employees over the last two years, it seems prudent to worry about how long she may remain with the city. It would be very expensive to replace her if the city could even find someone as experienced and qualified as she is.
I can’t help but note the difference between Ms. Salvo’s request for an additional employee, which involved a thoughtful and comprehensive analysis (see video), and the case Commissioner Sanghvi made when she wanted to request the Council’s support for her office to hire an executive assistant for her. In Sanghvi’s case, all she offered was a one-word rationale, “parity.” She deserved the position because the other elected officials had executive assistants. Her predecessor Michele Madigan observed that the Finance office, during her ten years, had functioned effectively without an executive assistant.
In this video, Ms. Salvo makes her case:
Lew Benton’s Concerns Dismissed
In this video, former Commissioner of Public Safety Lew Benton raises the alarm about underfunded items in Sanghvi’s budget and overly optimistic income projections. Rather than specifically address Benton’s concerns, Sanghvi gives a rambling and unfocused speech that fails to address the issues he raises. She assured the public that her experienced team had done a great job.
Send a Message to Minita
I received this message from Joanne Kiernan, a former candidate for Commissioner of Finance who ran in 2021.
“Good morning
People are not happy with the handling of the city finances and the council as a whole. Three commissioners are running unopposed so people don’t even have a choice. More and more people were asking me if they could write my name in and I said sure. Then it became a little organized when someone sent me the flier and asked if it could be shared. I love Saratoga Springs and I think Saratogians would best be served by someone who is qualified and committed to the city. People can write my name in at the bottom right hand corner of the ballot under Commissioner of Finance column.”
Democrats on the Saratoga Springs City Council voted 4 to 1 to spend $10,000 to hire a law firm that has been a generous contributor to Mayor Kim and the Saratoga Springs Democrats to investigate “allegations of discriminatory conduct”.
What Are They Investigating?
The tenth item on Mayor Ron Kim’s agenda at the October 17, 2023, Saratoga Springs City Council meeting was a resolution for “Authorization for Mayor to Sign Contract with The Towne Law Firm to Conduct Workplace Investigation.” Linked to this line were four items, including the actual resolution along with the Request for Quote (RFQ) all of which were extremely vague.
There was no public explanation as to what action required investigation nor who allegedly did the action. As far as I can tell, based on what was said at the meeting, there is no record of an actual complaint.
The Mayor claimed that the city had to hire an outside law firm for this investigation because there was no one available in city hall, including HR, who did not have a conflict of interest. It was never explained what this conflict was.
The entire process was the most opaque discussion I have ever observed at a Council meeting. For those who want to endure the entire eight minutes it went on, I have included a clip at the end of this blog.
The Towne Law Firm Has Contributed Generously to Ron Kim and the Saratoga Democrats
The firm that was selected by the four members of the Council (Kim, Moran, Sanghvi, and Golub) contributed $1,000.00 to Kim’s campaign chest and more to other Democratic candidates and the city Democratic Committee.
The Towne law firm has contributed:
$500.00 to Kim on July 23, 2023
$500.00 to Kim on September 19, 2021
$500.00 to Michael Phillips, who ran for County District Attorney and is now Kim’s assistant City Attorney
$500.00 to the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee on October 17, 2022
$1,000.00 to the Saratoga County Democratic Committee on October 24, 2022
$250.00 to Gordon Boyd, on June 25, 2023. Boyd is one of the Democratic candidates for Supervisor and ran Phillips’ campaign for DA.
The Investigation
On further research (more on that shortly), I learned that the issue to be investigated was sexual harassment.
In fact, the protocols for such investigations require that to protect all involved, investigations are supposed to be as protected from public scrutiny as possible, which I expect is why the discussion was so obtuse.
As noted, no reason why the human resources department would have a conflict of interest in investigating this was offered. HR is supposed to be the vehicle for addressing issues like sexual harassment. Unfortunately, in the spirit of catch-22, under the issue of privacy, there is no way to find out if there were any actual complaints filed for harassment, let alone why HR would recuse themselves and whether it was appropriate for them to do so.
The Reveal
The need for privacy and caution went off the rails the following day when Mayor Ron Kim went to the Times Union in order to get a story. He included an email that, in effect, identified the target of the investigation along with the potential victims. In the spirit of the protocols that protect privacy, I am not including the emails or a link to the story.
Curiously, Tracy Sangare (sometimes referred to as Tracy Krosky), a BLM activist, read this email during the public comment portion of the Council meeting. It was apparently given to her by a Council member.
Yet More Toxic Behavior
As routinely happens at Council meetings, the discussion about hiring the Towne Law Firm devolved into raised voices and ugliness. For those of you who, for some reason, have not had enough of this stuff, here’s yet another video.
A Civil Voice
In contrast, consider John Safford, the Republican candidate for Mayor, who made brief and thoughtful observations on the city’s insurance and bonding problems during the public comment period.
No one on the Council responded to his suggestions.
The first of two public hearings on the proposed city budget, required by the city charter, was held at the October 17, 2023, Saratoga Springs City Council meeting.
Prior to the Kim administration, there were no limits on comments made during public hearings. It should be apparent that limiting comments to four minutes makes serious analysis virtually impossible for a document as large and comprehensive as the city’s proposed budget. This had never been an issue before.
Nevertheless, Tuesday night, the Mayor insisted on imposing the 4-minute time limit when former Finance Commissioner Michele Madigan stepped up to the microphone. Unfortunately for him, he was dealing with Michele Madigan, whose spirited presentation frustrated his efforts to limit her.
In her comments, Ms. Madigan severely took Finance Commissioner Sanghvi to task for problems with her proposed budget. She specifically made no bones about the deplorable way Sanghvi handled the Public Safety budget. Budget meetings are supposed to be about analyzing the requested and itemized budget proposals by departments on what they need and why. In classic “performance politics,” Sanghvi spent a major part of the recent meeting on the Public Safety part of the budget assailing the commission form of government and on the alleged failures of the previous administration. This is because Commissioner Sanghvi feels more comfortable talking about everything other than numbers. The poverty of her ability with numbers is sliced and diced by Lew Benton (past Commissioner of public safety) in the text below following the video of Ms. Madigan’s comments.
Lew’s analysis is an eye-opener for those willing to read through its figures.
PS For those frustrated with Commissioner Sanghvi’s performance in office and disappointed that she is running unopposed, I understand some folks are organizing a write-in campaign for her opponent in the last election, Joanne Kiernan.
Thoughts On Commissioner Sanghvi’s Proposed Budget For 2024 from Lew Benton
The proposed 2024 City Comprehensive Budget as presently constructed is concerning. It will require significant amendments if operating deficits are to be avoided next year.
First and foremost, it includes unfavorable budget variances in both major revenue and expenditure accounts.
This comes on the heels of a 2023 budget, the first prepared and adopted by current City Council members, that preordained the 2024 proposal’s many overstated anticipated revenues and, in some cases, grossly underfunded expenditure lines.
The proposed 2024 operating budget is not in balance and must not be adopted until it is. To bring it into balance will require a more realistic examination of several accounts, including those referenced below, and the political will to act.
No doubt, the lack of institutional knowledge and limited understanding of how this government functions on the part of a council made up of first-term members can, in part, temper the inadequacies in the 2023 budget. However failure to recognize and correct them going forward is unacceptable and a violation of the fiduciary’s responsibility.
Attempting to transfer blame to those who had no hand in the adoption of the 2023 budget or the preparation of the 2024 plan, citing recent high inflation and the dearth of new revenue streams for the city’s fiscal difficulties, rings hollow.
All local governments are faced with the same headwinds. It might be more honest to acknowledge that hiring additional non-essential employees was not prudent, that budgeting non-existent revenues, and that deliberately lowballing major expenditures invites deficit spending.
Following are examples of the unfavorable variances in the proposed 2024 operating budget. There are, to be sure, others.
Revenues
In Finance, $850,000 in Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue is proposed for 2024. This is over $100,000 more than was actually realized in FY 2022 and over $600,000 more than has been received to date this year.
The 2023 budget includes a non-existent ‘Cannabis Tax’ revenue of $250,000. The proposed 2024 budget carries that same amount forward. Potential first-time revenues such as this one do not usually meet expectations. And by prematurely including the revenue in the 2023 budget only added to a negative revenue variance
The proposed Mortgage Tax revenue for 2024 is $1.5 million compared to the $933,400 collected to date this year. The $933,400 is far below the $2.05 million budget.
The Fed’s attempts to reign in inflation have depressed mortgage markets even here in Saratoga Springs. Thus, even the $1.5 million proposed seems unrealistic.
The mayor’s budget is ripe with unfavorable 2024 revenue variances. The Building Permit account carries a proposed $700,000 revenue even in the face of a major decline in permit revenues this year. To date, Finance lists Building Permit revenue at $352,520, with only $400,000 projected by the end of the FY. This is $300,000 less than was budgeted. Artificially inflating anticipated revenue only increases the structural deficit.
In recent years, this revenue has been strong, but, at least for the short term, it is most unlikely that in one year, that revenue will increase 75%, from $400,000 to $700,000.
Likewise, Planning Board fees are unrealistically overstated. Actual 2022 Planning Board revenue was $122,820. Still, this revenue line was increased to $200,000 in the adopted 2023 budget but is now projected by Finance to fall $35,000 short.
Now, in spite of the anticipated 2023 unfavorable variance, Finance has increased the line to $250,000 for 2024. Perhaps an explanation for this doubling of the 2022 revenue and increasing the anticipated 2023 collections by $85,000 in the 2024 budget is in order.
Other suspect revenue lines in the mayor’s budget include Insurance Reimbursement, which went from $ 0- this year to $125,000 next year.
The Public Safety revenue budget includes a $300,000 increase in Ambulance Transportation charges over the $2 million projected to be realized by the end of FY-23 and is over $500,000 more than actually collected in 2022.
Unless the fee structure is significantly increased, this revenue line is likely to fall far short of the $2.3 million in the proposed 2024 budget.
Parking Enforcement revenue is now anticipated to be $462,0000 this year, down almost $80,000 from the $540,000 budgeted and $38,000 less than the $500,000 in the 2024 proposal.
Operating Expenditures
The operating budget also includes many likely unfavorable variances. Just as overestimating revenues in the actual 2003 and proposed 2024 budgets contributed to the city’s present fiscal dilemma, so have what appears to be unfavorable variances in the operating budgets.
In the 2023 public safety operating budget, the City Council included $190,000 for firefighter overtime. Finance now projects that $ 533,500 will be spent by the end of the fiscal year, an astronomical increase of $343,500 over the budgeted amount.
Similarly, the Firefighter Compensation Time budget is anticipated to be overspent. Only $190,000 was earmarked for this line in the 2023 budget but $563,000 is anticipated to be spent by year’s end, a $ 373,000 overage.
So, too, is the proposed 2024 Police Overtime and Compensation Timelines grossly underfunded. Finance proposes to appropriate the rather odd amount of $263,637 for Compensation Time vis a vis the $483,570 spent in 2022 and the projected $450,000 in 2023. The 2024 OT line is set at $325,000 against the $507,505 expended in 2022 and the estimated $450,000 this year.
In the aggregate, Finance is proposing 2024 Police and Fire Fighter OT and Comp Time expenditures totaling $1,338,637, although corresponding 2022 costs were $1,498,271 and projected 2023 expenditures are $1,981,000.
While there may have been unique circumstances that have resulted in higher than normal Police and Firefighter OT and Compensation Time expenditures this year, the proposed 2024 appropriations are well below what will be needed to avoid the necessity of transferring large amounts during the course of FY 24.
In the Mayor’s office, $20,000 was budgeted for outside legal counsel this year, but Finance projects that over $92,000 will be spent. Only $20,000 is earmarked for next year. Now it appears that yet more outside legal services will be retained to investigate an offending mail. This is madness.
These references are not all-inclusive. There are many more questions to be asked and answered. Why, for example, has Code Blue shelter support been cut from the budget.
There is time to prepare a more realistic 2024 operating budget. I hope the City Council will do so lest the new Council be bequeathed an extraordinary fiscal challenge.
I just received the information that the jury in the Darryl Mount case ruled in favor of the city. I will publish more information as it becomes available.
Saratoga Springs Politics 