GUILDERLAND - In recent years, budget hearings held by the all-Democratic town board have been short and quiet. That changed with last Tuesday's upset election by two Republicans to the board.

At last Thursday's hearing, councilmen-elect Mark Grimm and Warren Redlich complained about the complexity of the budget proposed for next year, stirring response from the usually quite board members.

Republicans Grimm and Redlich ousted Democrat incumbents Councilmen Michael Ricard and David Bosworth last week in an upset victory. The two newcomers will begin their terms with the new year.
Supervisor Kenneth Runion proposed a $30.5 million budget in September, describing it as "a bare-boned budget," which did not contain a tax rate hike like many other local municipalities' budgets.

He touted the budget and his fiscal management as a reason to re-elect himself and his fellow Democrats even though Runion, who ran unopposed, garnered 5,000 votes, Guilderland voters chose Grimm and Redlich over Bosworth and Ricard.

The councilmen-elect spoke at the public comment period and then during the public hearing for over an hour while about a dozen residents sat in the back of the room, waiting to speak against a re-zone request that was on the agenda for that evening. (See related story.)

"Cryptic" budget"

The heated debates between the councilmen-elect and all five sitting town board members were over the complexity of the town budget and the differences between a public-comment period and a public hearing

Redlich, after speaking during the public-comment period on appointing a new police chief, spoke for much of the public hearing, going over specific line items such as the police department's budget, and asked how much money was left over from each department in last year's budget.

He also complained that the budget synopsis lacked commas and page numbers, was complicated, and that the average resident couldn't understand the document without an accounting degree.
"If it's a little bit easier for you to understand, I would be glad to give you a copy with commas and page numbers," Runion told Redlich.
"No thank you," Redlich quipped. "As you can see," he said holding up his copy of the budget, "I made my own red commas right here."

Redlich, on a more serious note, told the town board that it is not unreasonable for the board to create and provide a budget in a readable and understandable format.
Councilwoman Patricia Slavick, who works for the state comptroller's office and recently lost a primary bid for Albany County Comptroller against Michael Conners, explained to Redlich that any money left over from last year "rolls over" to the next budget.

Runion said the town doesn't go on a spending spree during the end of the year when departmental budget money is left over, as, he said, some state and county offices do.

After the lengthy back-and-forth between Redlich and the board, Grimm walked up to the podium.
"This document is not helpful," Grimm told the board. "If I had 10 copies of this budget and I gave it to 10 people"they wouldn't understand it."
Grimm called the town's budget "cryptic," and concluded, "I hope the lesson we learned from this budget is that it can be improved."

Board members responded that they follow set New York State guidelines when preparing the budget and said that a detailed, line-item budget is available at the comptroller's office if anyone wanted to read it.

The document Grimm and Redlich had was merely an overview of the $30.46 million budget, Runion said at the meeting.
"I know you know the state budget because you worked in the assembly," Runion said to Grimm, referring to the councilman elect's job with former assemblyman and state assembly minority leader, Republican John Faso.

Runion also reminded Grimm that, during the budget workshops in September, which Grimm attended and Redlich did not, that Grimm was given detailed copies of the budget, including line items for each town department discussed at the workshop.

In respond, Grimm said that he was told by Bosworth he wasn't allowed to ask questions at the workshop, which is open to the public. Bosworth said he didn't recall saying that to Grimm.

The Enterprise attended the budget workshop during which Grimm was told that the purpose of the workshop was for the supervisor, as the town's chief fiscal officer, to listen to department heads and to go over his budget proposal with town board members.

Grimm has served on the Citizens' Budget Advisory Committee for the Guilderland School District; during its televised meetings administrators, over the course of a month, explain the budget proposal and answer questions. School budgets must be passed by voters. Town budgets are adopted by the town board.

Public comment or hearing"

Town council members also criticized Grimm and Redlich on Thursday evening, for using the televised town board meeting as a political soapbox.
"As far as I know, this is the first town board meeting I've seen you at beyond the public-comment period," Runion told Grimm.

Councilman Paul Pastore, the board's newest Democratic member, explained the difference between the public-comment period, during which board members do not respond and open-ended comments are taken into the record, and a public hearing, during which the board engages in a dialogue with residents over a specific matter.
"We're obviously having a discourse"I don't want the residents of the town to be confused"that we're engaging in a question of semantics," said Pastore.

The first-term councilman also commented on Grimm and Redlich's previous appearances during public comment period when they criticized town board members before the election.
"I don't want to speak for the board," Pastore said. "But during the public comment period, they [board members] wanted to say something, but did not do it."

Councilman Bosworth also noted that, prior to the current administration, there was no public comment period and it is not a mandated requirement for the town board. The state's Open Meetings Law requires that town board meetings be open to the public; it does not state that the public must be allowed to speak.
"Before we came in here, there was no public comment period"in the history of this board," Bosworth said. "I think it's a good thing that we have"We just need to be careful."

Bosworth continued, saying that Grimm and Redlich were spending too long and using up the board's time when there was another public hearing scheduled and several agenda items still needed to be voted on.
"We are not a full-time board"We could look into extending the meetings; that's something we could look into," Bosworth said.
"When we came into office, we thought that a public-comment period was something this board should have," he said, adding that reasonable time was needed to attend to all of the town's business.
Grimm quickly responded by saying, "You talk a lot about the past. I want to talk about the future."
To which Bosworth replied, "You're being confrontational," before Town Clerk Rosemary Centi interjected and reminded everyone that residents for another public hearing were waiting to be heard.

The back-and-forth debates evoked comments from one of the residents in the group waiting for the re-zone hearing. She was the only person other than Grimm and Redlich to speak to the board throughout the over hour-long hearing.
"I worked under six different supervisors, under two parties"and the budget has always looked like this," said June Kline, a retired town employee. "There are bigger problems. Let's solve those, not this."