The City of Poughkeepsie Common Council proposed a budget amendment at its May 19 meeting which would have reallocated unused Community Development Block Grant funds to the recently created Youth Initiative.
“I understand that the finances of the city need to be well-tended, and I’m pleased after many months that we now have a new finance commissioner. I know we’re facing tight times and an overall economic downturn, but I believe that the Youth Initiative is critical. For the city to continue to its recovery, and for the future of the city, I believe we need to tend to our youth,” said Council Chairman Brian Doyle (D-4th Ward). “It’s the least we can do for the youth of our city.”
“I don’t disagree about supporting the youth. I, on this board in the past, have supported this initiative as a council member,” countered Mayor John Tkazyik (R). “This was not budgeted for in 2008, and it will be impacting the general fund. I think that taking a more conservative approach by funding it only until the end of the year would be wise.”
The city’s Youth Initiative was created by the council last year as a way to keep the city’s youth off the streets and away from crime.
“We have seen so many instances where crime is committed by youth,” said Doyle. “I’ve seen the names of the kids that I used to coach in Little League appear in the arrest reports. There’s a lot to draw kids away from the positive track, so I think our investment in programs and support for the youth is well worth while.”
Councilmember Joe Rich (D-2nd Ward) agreed. “At the moment we have a new finance commissioner, and we intend to find where we can save money. We need to find out if there is money to be saved so we can use it for other things. The only thing we leave behind in this world is our children, and as a person who values children, I don’t see why we should hold up this miniscule amount of money,” he said.
The initiative was initially funded in 2007 with $50,000 from the general fund – an allotment that would carry the initiative halfway through 2008. Because funding for the initiative was not part of former mayor Nancy Cozean’s budget, the renewal of the Youth Initiative was not introduced.
The amendment would have allocated more than $21,000 in unused Community Development Block Grant funding to the Youth Initiative.
“We had very tough budget deliberation sessions. We believed we would be able to look for opportunities as we proceeded through 2008, where the budget was under-spent, and reallocate those dollars so that we could renew the Youth Initiative funding,” said Doyle.
“I’m being fiscally conservative on the signs of the times. My suggestion was only to fund the initiative until the end of this year at $25,000, and then during the budget process take a hard look at the budget,” said Tkazyik. “It all should have been planned for.”
The council voted on the amendment at its last meeting, but since it was newly introduced, unanimous consent was necessary to pass it. Councilmember Thomas Parise, (R-1st Ward), voted against the amendment; “I’m behind the mayor 100 percent, and I will not vote for this resolution,” he said.
The issue is expected to be revisited at the council’s upcoming June 2 meeting, and unanimous consent will no longer be necessary to approve the resolution.