Democracy In Albany

Albany Charter Amendment is Overdue

By Richard Conti

This Election Day, Albany voters will be asked to vote on an amendment to the Albany City Charter that will provide some basic checks and balances in the city’s budget making process.

“Proposition Number Two, Proposal Number One” will require that the Common Council approve: creating new jobs or reclassifying positions; and, any salary related increases to the budget.

This is important because, each year, the Common Council reviews and approves the city’s budget, including salaries and positions. However, when amendments to the budget are made, they are not made by the Common Council that approved the budget, but by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, an outdated five member body.

Other municipalities in New York State which once used a Board of Estimate and Apportionment process have long since abandoned it; only Albany retains it as the sole mechanism to adjust budgets after they’re adopted.

Budgets are significant policy documents; they set forth priorities and allocate resources to achieve objectives.

Our current City Charter gives the Common Council the authority to make additions or deletions and insert new policy objectives to a budget proposed by the Mayor before returning it to him for final approval.

If the Mayor disapproves the Common Council’s revisions, he can veto them. The Common Council then has the right, by two-thirds majority, to override those vetoes and enact the revisions over his objections. This is an example of the policy making role of the Common Council within city government and the checks and balances between the executive and legislative branches.

The basic flaw in the current system is that the Common Council, the policy making body that reviews, revises, and approves the budget, is not involved in any revisions that are subsequently made after its adoption. This is a significant breakdown in the balance of power and checks and balances that are central to our form of government.

“Proposition Number Two, Proposal Number One” rebalances the relationship between the Common Council and the Mayor and assures Albany’s taxpayers that their elected Common Council representatives have consistent oversight over the most important aspect of city government.

Salaries and benefits account for more than seventy percent of the city’s budget. How we staff city government and organize departments has a direct relationship on the delivery of services, the economic efficiency of government and attainment of policy objectives.

Through September of this year, nearly thirty salary-related revisions were made to the 2008 budget adopted by the Common Council in 2007. These included new positions, reclassifications and departmental reorganizations . . . all having an impact on the delivery of city services and how taxpayer dollars are spent. But your Common Council member, the person you elected to represent you in these decisions and the person that adopted the budget, had no role in reviewing these revisions and was unable to exercise oversight. That’s one of the reasons why the Albany Common Council is the weakest legislative body in New York State when it comes to city financial matters.

The Board of Estimate and Apportionment has its roots in the New York State Second Class Cities Law adopted in 1906. Isn’t it time that Albany moved into the twenty-first century?

By voting YES on “Proposition Number Two, Proposal Number One”, voters can strengthen checks and balances in city government and help create a better working relationship between the executive and legislative branches of government. That’s good for Albany. More importantly, that’s good government!

-------- Richard Conti is President Pro Tem of the Albany Common Council and author of “Proposition Number Two, Proposal Number One” that will be on this year’s Election Day ballot.