Albany charter win shifts power

More reform on horizon after Common Council victory in budget issue

Published on 11/6/2008 by the Times Union written by TIM O'BRIEN, Staff writer, Times Union

ALBANY — Voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum to give the Common Council more say over the city budget — and that may embolden members to try to increase their power further.

Members have long complained that Mayor Jerry Jennings does not give them input in decision-making. The 3-to-1 ratio by voters that approved the City Charter change may prompt other reforms.

"I certainly hope so," said Council President Shawn Morris. "We still have a road to travel in terms of making Albany government as open, accessible and transparent as it should be."

In July, the referendum's author, Council President Pro Tempore Richard Conti, called the council "the weakest legislative body in the state of New York."

The change approved by a vote of 11,627 to 3,896 requires council approval of midyear raises and departmental reorganizations. The mayor previously could take such changes to the five-member Board of Estimate and Apportionment.

Jennings opposed the change as interfering with his prerogative, but he did not campaign against it.

In 2005, the Albany Civic Agenda proposed to shift the mayor's two board appointees to the council and to give the council approval of department heads. The plan never got past a divided council. Instead, Jennings created a charter review commission that called for council approval on the appointments of 11 department leaders when the current occupants vacated the jobs. It also required the mayor and treasurer to identify deputies who would take over in case of temporary incapacity and called for the council to set an official policy on debt limits. The propositions passed.

Third Ward Council member Corey Ellis said he wants to see more changes on next year's ballot and would like to hear citizens' ideas on other ways to give the council more power. "We can no longer have a top-down government that is centered in one office, the mayor's office," Ellis said.

Conti has a second item on the council's agenda that would require its approval of transfers of $5,000 or more or that increase a department's budget by more than 5 percent.

Council member Dominick Calsolaro said: "I would like to see the whole Board of Estimate and Apportionment done away with. I think maybe that will be the next one for next year."

James Sano, chairman of the Finance, Taxation and Assessment Commitee, said the 2006 charter review commission gave elected officials the chance to propose reforms, but "I don't think you ever stop looking at anything."

Tim O'Brien can be reached at 454-5092 or tobrien@timesunion.com.