NEWBURGH – Councilwoman Patty Sofokles cast the sole negative vote last week when the Newburgh City Council approved its $48 million 2020 budget that includes police and firefighter layoff, the reason why she voted against the spending plan.
While she is hopeful that some compromises can be reached in the next month to avoid some of those double-digit staff cuts, Sofokles is optimistic about the city’s long-term outcome.
“We have had bad numbers, bad leadership, for many, many years that nobody was asking the right questions and now we are asking the right questions and it may set us back a little bit, but it’s going to move us forward,” she said. “We have a lot of things in the works for this city.”
Sofokles hopes the police and fire unions and the administration can come to terms over the next five weeks to save some of those dozens of layoffs.
