As Troy approaches budget season, the city is still without a comptroller.
Dylan Spring, who was hired in February, resigned in July following mounting pressure to deliver quarterly financial reports and close the 2023 books.
Prior to Spring’s hiring, outside firm ProNexus was brought on while the city searched for a full-time comptroller. The firm worked through Spring’s resignation, but it was announced in August that ProNexus failed to file an accurate report on the city’s 2023 finances, submitting inaccurate documents to the state.
While the city races to fill the comptroller position, it has hired yet another outside accounting firm, BST & Co.
Democratic council president Sue Steele, who chairs the finance committee, says the city is misspending taxpayer money.
Steele contends a lack of communication with the mayor’s office has left her in the dark and concerned about the city’s current financial status.
“We have not received any quarterly reports. We don't have a comptroller. It's like we know nothing about the finances, and that's a very frightening situation to be in as a member of the council,” Steele said. “We have a duty to the taxpayers to monitor and to make sure that the city is in good financial state, and we have no information at this point in time.”
First-term Republican Mayor Carmella Mantello says there’s little reason to worry.
“We're on track. Is it where I want to be? Absolutely not,” Mantello said. “I’m going to be very forthright telling folks, but the good news we're stable. The monies are good. It's the accounting part of it. That's the difficulty putting in hundreds of requisitions from 2023 and 2024 that just weren't done.”
Mantello says she expects BST & Co to move through records up to July 2024 within the week.
“Our expenditures were able to track the whole year,” Mantello said. “That's easy. It's more the revenues, because they're put in at different times. So that's what we're waiting for.”
Mantello says applications for the comptroller are rolling in. She says retired comptrollers, state budget employees, and current comptrollers from other municipalities have applied. During Spring’s hiring process, Steele questioned his ability to do the job, citing his limited experience with municipal finances. Mantello says she is taking her time going through applications to avoid a repeat situation.
“You have to have someone who's confident, who's knowledgeable,” Mantello said. “Obviously, you know, skill knows city government or municipal government, and obviously, can, you know, work with that climate and be able to balance that so you have to have, you know, all those qualities. We think we have found one, but, you know, we're proceeding cautiously.”
Mantello says she expects to fill the position within the next two weeks.
As for the budget itself, Mantello says she plans to stabilize and eventually get rid of the trash fee, currently $254 per residential unit, per year.
“That's the goal, to look at the solid waste program, not just the garbage, but the bulk fee, etc., and really look at our solid waste program to citywide, and then essentially phase out that garbage fee,” Mantello said. “Remember, it relies on close to $2.5 to $3 million of revenue now, with that fee, so to phase that out, it's another Herculean effort, but I'm determined, and I never wave that white flag.”
Steele adds that in the 2025 budget, she would like to see an investment in the workforce. The council recently approved raising the comptroller’s salary from $103,966 to between $125,000 and $150,000. Steele says Mantello is counting on vacancies to balance the budget, but in the end, taxpayers lose out because there’s a limited workforce to deliver on the services they’re paying for.
“Given the number of vacancies that we have, I think it's pretty obvious that we are not paying our workforce wages commensurate with other municipalities, and so folks are leaving us the advantage of working for municipal government may not be as attractive as it was at one time, especially if the salaries are low,” he said.
The budget is due to the City Council by October 10.
