PoughkeepsieJournal.com
Joan Pagones • August 29, 2010
Much has been made about the Town of Fishkill’s recent audit by the state comptroller. The audit is not in final form, but a draft has been released. I wish to address the contents of the draft audit. Initially, please know that audits can be misleading because they are highly aspirational and often do not account for the daily challenges facing local government. Sometimes the recommendations are good, but it is unrealistic to expect the taxpayers to bear the burden of implementing those recommendations.
The most important thing about this audit is that the comptroller found no instances of misuse of taxpayer dollars or malfeasance. Not one. As supervisor, I am very proud of that.
The audit is critical of the town for not maintaining a balanced budget. The general public does not need to be told, however, that the recent economic crisis that began on Wall Street and trickled down to Main Street created financial difficulties for everyone o including town government. Rising unemployment led to an increased demand for government services. A decrease in both residential and commercial development led to a decrease in our tax base. Just as the town was being asked to provide more, it was receiving less in revenue. In addition, funding the town relied on from the federal, state and county governments was reduced, eliminated or delayed. The town still had services it needed to provide to its residents, and the town needed to find ways to fund those services so that Fishkill’s residents could, for example, wake up on a winter morning to plowed roads. The economy was never going to improve if people couldn’t even get to work or school on a snowy day.
Had the financial crisis been predictable, the town officials could have planned for it. We could have tried to trim spending had we anticipated such drastic revenue shortfalls. As the slide into recession began, the town took further steps to compensate for what we thought, at the time, would be a brief downturn. For the past five years or so, the town had already taken steps to control costs. We created a five-year financial plan to help with
longer-term projections for spending and revenue receipt. This five-year plan actually formalizes many of the more informal policies and goals from the past five years.
Examples of what the town has done include trimming personnel costs. This includes not filling vacated positions and not creating any new full-time positions since 2006. Previously, only some employees contributed toward health insurance, but now all employees and elected officials contribute 15 percent toward the premiums. This alone saves more than $60,000 annually. The town also eliminated “step” payments to employees in the 2010 budget, which saves more than $20,000. Cost-of-living adjustments were also eliminated, saving more than $102,500 annually. This year the town also implemented a “lag” pay schedule that saves in excess of $120,000 per year. Closing the Town Hall on Fridays has also resulted in increased work efficiency and decreased utility and maintenance costs. In total, the town has saved more than $4.15 million since 2004.
Additionally, the town has converted the parks department to a primarily fee-based program; activities are self-funded by participant fees, saving more than $415,000. The housing department has been entirely funded by developer fees since its inception in 2004, and the Housing Trust Fund’s $1 million-plus budget is also funded entirely by developer fees. The town board has asked every other department to suggest new and innovative ways to cut costs without sacrificing the services that make Fishkill such a great place to live. Finally,the town will be retiring some of its debt, and converting some higher interest borrowing to lower- cost financing. Ultimately, we predict debt service savings of more than $5.3 million by 2015.
Our town’s financial recovery will not happen overnight, but the board’s responsible budgeting will produce long-lasting benefits for everyone who lives and works in Fishkill.
Joan Pagones is supervisor of the Town of Fishkill.
