COLONIE TOWN BOARD MEMBER DUSTIN CALLS FOR MORE TRANSPARENCY IN TOWN BUDGET
February 10, 2010
COLONIE TOWN BOARD MEMBER DUSTIN CALLS FOR MORE TRANSPARENCY IN TOWN BUDGET
Colonie Town Board member Dan Dustin is calling on Town Supervisor Paula Mahan and the Colonie Town Board to adopt a resolution requiring the Town Comptroller to provide comprehensive quarterly updates of the Town’s financial status to the Town Board and the public. Dustin will discuss the resolution at the Colonie Town Board meeting, Thursday, February 11, 2010 at Colonie Memorial Town Hall.
The proposed resolution aims to create more transparency in the Town’s budget implementation process to ensure that decisions made by the Town Board today are well-informed and will protect the financial health of the Town. “The Town Board and taxpayers have a right to be provided with timely and accurate information about the Town’s finances in order to have a better understanding of the issues and their financial impacts,” said Dustin. “Ideally, the Town Board should receive monthly financial statements but this is a first step in the right direction” Dustin added.
Dustin’s proposed resolution is especially timely given that Supervisor Mahan is proposing $26 million in new debt for the Town. Resolutions authorizing the Town to issue this increased debt are slated to be considered by the Town Board at their meeting Thursday night.
“I am concerned that Supervisor Mahan is effectively using the Town’s “credit card” to balance the Town’s financial books. As consumers, we all know that this approach in the short-term seems like a solution, but in reality, it is recipe for long-term financial disaster. Without detailed information on the Town’s overall financial position, a new up-to-date review by Moody’s and a clear capital and debt service plan, the Town Board cannot carry out its fiduciary responsibility to Town taxpayers and I would strongly urge the Town Board not to approve any new debt issuances. The strategy being forwarded by the Supervisor is short-sighted and will impose an unnecessary financial burden on our children.”
Dustin’s calls for more transparency also come at a time when the Town has experienced a significant drop in sales tax revenue, is bracing for a State budget that would reduce State aid, and needs to prepare for large increases in pension costs.
“My proposal would ensure that the Town Board has timely, accurate and comprehensive information about the Town’s finances when they are making decisions about spending and hiring,” said Dustin. “In addition, the Town Board and Town taxpayers need to know how the Supervisor and Comptroller are proposing to manage theses issues now and in the future. The information currently provided by the Comptroller and the Supervisor is not adequate for the Town Board to make well-informed decisions and the public has been kept in the dark on the Town’s financial position.”
Municipalities must seek a rating from a bond rating agency when they issue long-term debt in the market. This requirement can be circumvented if a municipality issues the debt as short-term or seeks to sell debt privately. However, municipalities can seek a rating from a rating agency at any time. Shorter-term debt typically carries a higher interest rate than long-term debt.
At the state level, the State Comptroller provides the Governor and the State Legislature with monthly financial updates and the State’s bond rating is reviewed annually.
Dan Dustin was elected to his first term as Town Board member in November 2009. He is a Certified Public Accountant.
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