By JARRETT CARROLL

Recorder News Staff

FONDA -- In an effort to stay within the state-mandated 2 percent tax cap the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors passed its 2012 budget by depleting its fund balance.

With Amsterdam 5th Ward Supervisor Karl Baia and St. Johnsville town Supervisor Dominick Stagliano absent from the meeting, Amsterdam 4th Ward Supervisor Barbara Wheeler and town of Florida Supervisor William Strevy were the only two to vote against the proposed budget.

Just prior to the vote, Montgomery County Treasurer Shawn Bowerman confirmed the county's fund balance had been gutted from $8.6 million to $1.8 million in order to balance the budget.

Only two people spoke at the public hearing portion of the meeting.

Fund balance was used to restore positions and cover health insurance shortfalls not originally included in the tentative budget Bowerman crafted.

Some of the restored cuts included the History & Archives department, the county clerk's office, the county jail, the Department of Social Services, the district attorney's office, public defender and for emergency management.

There was a number of other restorations that were included, but the cuts to the county's Office For the Aging and Cornell Cooperative Extension caught the attention of both town of Amsterdam Supervisor Thomas DiMezza and 2nd Ward Supervisor Barbara Johnson who offered amendment to restore the funding.

DiMezza proposed restoring $22,000 to the Montgomery County Office For Aging, Inc., which is equivalent to a 10 percent cut for the department and Johnson proposed restoring the 10 percent cut for Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Neither resolution had enough of the weighted vote to pass.

Montgomery County Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas Quackenbush said without the luxury of a healthy fund balance the county will not be able stay within the 2 percent cap next year without serious relief from the state.

"We disagree on a lot of things in this room ... the one thing we agree on is the state put us in one heck of a pickle with unfunded mandates," he said. "If we don't have mandate relief by next year we're cooked and we know it."

Quackenbush said their board's message to state representatives should be a unified one.

"We're gonna put a mandate on the state legislature," he said. "If you don't give us mandate relief by next year find another job ... hand in the keys to your office because we'll find someone else to do it."

A similar warning was offered by Amsterdam 3rd Ward Supervisor Ronald J. Barone Sr.

"Everyone have fun right now because the party's over," he said of next year's budget process. "I don't know where the money's coming from because we're bare bones."

The general consensus of the board appeared to be that although some jobs were saved, the overall cost heading into the future may be too great to overcome unless drastic measures are taken.

"This board really has to think about consolidation," DiMezza said. "It's the only possible way out because the state is forcing us to consolidate."

He suggested starting with law enforcement, stating the entire county should have one police force.

"It would be the Montgomery County Police," DiMezza said. "It's got to be done this year."

Strevy said the budget passed Tuesday night is actually a disservice to taxpayers.

"It's not totally Albany that is the problem, there are decisions we make in this room that cost money, too," he said. "We've completely gutted the county of services the residents want at the expense of the 2 percent cap."

The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors opened the meeting with a moment of silence in observance of the 48th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Contact JARRETT CARROLL at

jarrett.carroll@recordernews.com