Town Administrator

By Bob Romano

Now is not the time

There was a pending proposal before the North Castle Town Board to create a new position in town government, that of Town Administrator. The vote on this proposal was be one of the most important and far reaching decisions the Town Board will be making in North Castle's long history. I firmly believe that now is not the right time for the town of North Castle to be creating and funding this position for a variety of reasons.

While the idea of creating and filling the role of a Town Administrator in North Castle may be a good one, I believe it is being proposed at the wrong time. We cannot currently place this additional financial burden on our budget, one that even by the most optimistic estimates will take several years before we start to see a positive return on investment. This would be a major change in the way we govern our town, and we can't just delve into it without having first considered all the financial implications and we are satisfied that the numbers and the timing are right.

The numbers as put forth recently by the Town Board suggest that even in a best light circumstance there will be an approximately $20,000 shortfall in the first year. This figure assumes that the new Administrator will perform all his or her duties impeccably without any additional cost of hiring an assistant. I do not believe this to be an accurate reflection of what would be inevitable. The neighboring towns that currently have Administrators (Mamaroneck and New Castle) both have employed Assistant or Deputy Administrators as well. According to the Administrator's offices in these towns, without these positions being created the Administrators would not be able to adequately carry out their roles.

In New Castle for example, whose budget at 35 million dollars is less than 20% greater than that of ours, an Administrator and a Deputy Administrator are employed at a cost of $315,000. When calculating in benefits this figure easily escalates to a real cost to the town of well over $400,000 per year!! This amount does not even consider additional clerical and administrative costs. Even the most optimistic "added value" and savings analysis estimates of the "pro Administrator" arguments do not come close to presenting this investment as a sound one. Of course, the funds to supplement any shortfall produced by creating the Administrator position would have to come from either raising taxes or eliminating services somewhere else in the budget. Not one of these options is acceptable as far as I am concerned.

While the efforts of the Administrator Review Task Force are commendable, their report lacked mention of any specific financial implications, both short and long term. The generalizations and recommendations of the report were not supported by data or sound financial analysis, in short, "Where's the beef?" Further in depth and specific study of all of the implications of creating and hiring an Administrator must be explored prior to any vote by the current Board on this proposal.

The proposed change in the way our town is governed should be decided by the incoming Board, while taking in full consideration of the input of our residents. As a result of my many conversations with North Castle residents in recent weeks, and given the tone of those in attendance at the last Town Board meeting, it is abundantly clear that a majority (by a margin of nearly 2 to 1) of our residents are not in favor of creating the role of Town Administrator at this juncture. Our Town Board must balance the desires of our townspeople, with what they as Board members feel is in the best interest of the Town. If the Board was listening to the speakers at the past meeting, they are certainly aware that most North Castle residents are not in favor of creating the role of Town Administrator at this time.

Our residents have recently been saddled with major tax increases at a time when the poor state of the general economy has made the impact of these increases only more difficult to bear. This is a critical period in our town's history, one where the Board must be as sensitive as ever of the effects of their decisions on North Castle taxpayers. I feel that any vote in favor of creating this new position at this juncture, given the true economic cost it would have on our budget, flies in the face of what would be "in the best interest of North Castle".

Current Board members should be sensitive to the fact that the next administration will be comprised of at LEAST 4 of 5 members that do not support creating the new position at this time. That fact should not have been looked at by the current Board as a challenge to get this done as quickly as possible before the next administration takes office, but rather as a barometer of the feelings of our next elected officials whose positions should be weighted heavily upon as well.

At a recent town meeting, one of the authors of the Administrator Review Task Force report suggested that if the Town does not create this position now, it was 'kicking the can" down the road. I don't see it that way. I believe that such an important change in Town governing, being considered at a time when the Town is under unprecedented budget pressure deserves real analysis, considered deliberation, and, most importantly, deserves the views of all of the citizens and voters of North Castle to be taken into account.