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Schenectady City Council Votes To Keep Judge Position

Schenectady city council chambers
Lucas Willard
/
WAMC
Schenectady city council chambers

The Schenectady City Council has voted against a proposal by Mayor Gary McCarthy to eliminate a city court judge position.

In Mayor Gary McCarthy’s State of the City address, the Democrat announced his proposal to eliminate one of four city court judge positions.

One will step down when he turns 70, the mandatory retirement age.

A fourth judge was added to the city court by the state legislature in 2013. McCarthy, who was mayor at the time, said he wasn’t consulted on the move.

During his January address, the mayor said keeping a fourth judge will be costly.

“And the related requirements by the Office of Court Administration has the potential to cost the city in the range of $3 million. Very simply, three city court judges can comfortably handle the caseload and it makes no sense to potentially waste $3 million.”

That $3 million figure comes from an estimate on the cost of building a new courtroom.

Fast forward to Monday night — when the city council passed a measure 4 to 2 that would prevent any changes to the number of city court judges.

Council president Ed Kosiur, who called the special council meeting, said mayor’s announcement in January was the first he’d heard of the issue.

“My major concern is that we, as a council, or at least myself,  did not hear about this proposal about eliminating a judge or even thoughts about eliminating a judge until the State of the City address just a few weeks ago,” said Kosiur.

Supporters on the council called any action to eliminate a judgeship premature.

Prior to Monday’s meeting, Mayor McCarthy was asked about Kosiur’s legislation by WAMC.

“It’s an interesting reaction where normally we want to try to and save money and reduce the cost of government, and so they’ve taken an odd position, but I always appreciate the discussion and debate,” said McCarthy.

The mayor says he is working with state lawmakers to draft legislation to eliminate the judgeship. He points to figures that show a reduction of cases by 24 percent from 2010 to 2018.

“So that the three judges would be able to adequately handle that and we’re hopeful the legislature would consider that as we move forward,” said McCarthy.

Meanwhile, members of the city council against the elimination point to a current backlog of cases in city court. Council member Leesa Perazzo…

“We enter 2019 with more than 7,000 cases already on the docket. To my knowledge, we cannot have either judges waiting for cases to appear before them.”

Kosiur suggested that new courtroom space could be located within city hall at the current location of the engineering and water departments, with those services relocated to other city-owned office space on Foster Avenue.

Kosiur said the city receives over $200,000 a year from the state to maintain its courtrooms.

“And of course if we build an additional courtroom, I would assume that there would be some additional funding to go with that as well. So we’re not doing this for nothing, we do get paid by OCA, and, again, the city is not liable for the judge. We do not pay the judges’ fee, as the other towns and villages. That is completely funded through New York state.”

Prior to the appointment of a fourth city court judge in 2013, visiting judges from Saratoga Springs heard cases in Schenectady. Kosiur said the two judges worked in Schenectady “two to three days a week.”

If the mayor does not sign the measure within 10 days, it will automatically take effect.

If the mayor vetoes the legislation, the council would need at least five votes to override the veto. With city councilor John Mootooveren absent Monday evening, the measure would need to come to the floor again.

Lucas Willard is a news reporter and host at WAMC Northeast Public Radio, which he joined in 2011. He produces and hosts The Best of Our Knowledge and WAMC Listening Party.
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