The Schenectady City Council is trying to finalize its budget proposal for the 2026 fiscal year after Mayor Gary McCarthy vetoed the first proposal earlier this month. The council now is awaiting approval from the mayor on its latest version of the spending plan. At the same time, city leaders are reviewing candidates to fill a seat that as vacated when former councilmembers Joseph Mancini, resigned his post in August.
I spoke with city councilor-elect Hayden Engert for his perspective on the issues facing the Electric City council as we inch closer to the new year.
Well, I personally, you know, I when I spoke to the Daily Gazette after the election, I told them that I was opposed to the council picking the candidate to fill the vacancy. In its entirety. I think that the process we're seeing now has really just become more of a process of secrecy. You know, nobody has any idea of what is being asked of these candidates. Nobody has any idea of their qualifications. And you know, for me, personally, I think that I had to run, and I had to earn the trust of the connectivity residents on their doorstep. I had to make sure I introduced myself, told them why I was seeking a council seat and really describe to them what I foresee for the future. And I think that, you know, we're seeing now that's not happening, and it's becoming more of a process of people submit their resumes, the council holds interviews, and the residents of the city have no idea what questions are being asked of the of the people, there weren't even a list of questions provided to the public. So I think that you know, this whole process has become one of those secrecy. Nobody knows really what's going on, and I think that definitely needs to be a change before they even consider appointing somebody to the vacancy.
So, when you say they shouldn't have been, they shouldn't be appointing anybody, in its entirety. I mean, are you saying they should wait until January or they shouldn't appoint somebody at all?
No, I don't think the council should appoint somebody at all. I think that there's going to be a special election anyway next year to to serve for the rest of Mr. Mancini's term. So I think that the people of Schenectady should decide who they want to represent them, not four or five or six people that currently sit on the council. I think that, especially now after the most recent election, we had the people of Schenectady spoke very loudly and very clearly. And, you know, we're having a new council be seated in January. And again, I personally don't think that I even should cast a vote on who should fill that vacancy. I think that the people of Connecticut Schenectady should go to the polls and decide who they want to represent them on the council.
We've known about Mancini's vacancy for months. The council's looking to pick his replacement. Also at the same time that they're still in budget talks, what do you think should be prioritized at this point in time?
Oh, I think the budget should be 100% prioritized. I think that, you know, taking the words from Miss Porterfield, she said that the council was going to focus on the budget, and after they satisfied the requirement of them for the budget, they would worry about filling the vacancy. And now we're seeing that has been completely switched. Now they've known about the mayor's veto of the budget for, I think, almost a week and a half now, and now they're focusing on filling the vacancy, instead of worrying about creating a budget and sending a new budget to the mayor so that the city has a budget for 2026 we are roughly a month and a few days, a month and a week away from the New Year, and the city needs a budget, Because if there is no budget, people can be laid off. People can go to work without pay, just like we saw at the federal level, and that that's not okay. So I think that the city and the council really needs to put their heads back in it together to come up with a budget that will work for the people of Schenectady, but also work for the city, and really come up with a rock solid budget that the mayor will approve, and we can, we can move past this point.
What was your opinion on the initial proposal from the council?
I think that the council drastically inflated the revenue projections. I think that, you know, nobody wants to see a tax increase. I 100% don't want to see a tax increase. I also don't want to see a tax increase above the proposed tax cap. So I appreciated the discussions that were happening to try and lower the tax increase to below the tax cap, but I think that if you over estimate your revenue like they did, That'll hurt the city in the long run, at the end of the next fiscal year, so that next year, when I'm working on the budget with my colleagues, we're in a worse situation than we are now because of the lack of revenue, because it was so over projected that we're going to be in a tougher spot than what we are in now.
Your take on the mayor's proposal?
Well, the the mayor mayor's proposal, I think again, like I said, I wasn't a fan of the drastic tax increase, because I don't think that the people of Schenectady are ready for that amount of tax increase. So I think that there needs to be more collaboration between the council and the mayor's office to come up with some sort of plan to address the needs of the city, but also take into effect the take into effect the situation that we're in. So I don't, I don't want to say for sure which budget I would support, because I think that you. The best way to come go forward is to collaborate between both and come up with a solution that works for the city in its entirety.
All right, thank you. Hayden.
All right. Bye. Bye.
