KINGSTON – Ulster County
Budget Director Burton Gulnick has taken issue with County Comptroller
Elliott Auerbach over Auerbach’s assessment of the county’s 2017 budget.
Auerbach released a report on Tuesday saying the county administration’s
2017 county budget had a $16 million revenue shortfall, which was made
up with money from the county’s fund balance.
While the comptroller acknowledged that other counties also rely on fund balance to close budget gaps, he believes a long-range approach to budgeting would be a better way to handle it.
“When we looked back at this we see that it would be much more beneficial to create a multi-year budget because that fund balance is the rainy day fund, or the what-if fund, and it really is the county’s piggy-bank,” Auerbach said.
Gulnick, meanwhile, issued a statement saying Auerbach “is either
desperate for attention or simply does not understand the basics of municipal
finance.” The county executive said the county “has a strong
reputation for being one of the most fiscally sound counties in the Hudson
Valley as noted by the New York State Comptroller, our bond rating agencies
as well as the county legislature’s independent budget analysis.”
Auerbach has sued County Executive Michael Hein and the county legislature
for cutting his departmental budget for this year.
