WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2005. By John F. Bailey. October 17, 2005: John Carlson, candidate for Common Council accused the City of White Plains of managing its budget in an “Enron like atmosphere” based on the city’s refusal to provide him with any form of final fiscal 2004-05 budget numbers. (To date, the city has said publicly they made their budget with a surplus of $1.5 million, thanks to increased mortgage taxes, but the city has not released even a preliminary spread sheet to the public or the media showing the final 2004-2005 results, even though asked by media. The city has also not published first quarter 2005-2006 results.)
JOHN CARLSON Holding News Conference at City Hall today. Photo by WPCNR News
Carlson said the Budget Department refused to give him 04-05 preliminary final budget numbers, quoting a Budget Department spokesperson as saying “We don’t do that.”
A call to the Mayor’s office asking when preliminary financials would be released, and if they would be released before Election Day (November 8) has not been returned.
Carlson, describing himself as a corporate banker professionally, said this kind of “Enron-like atmosphere,” not reporting city financials in a timely, public manner did not make him feel comfortable. He criticized the city for not making three year expense budget and revenue projections. He said it was the Common Council’s job to ask for those numbers and scrutinize them.
In a wide ranging critique of city financials, Carlson accused the city of smoke and mirrors accounting, citing the city take over of the parking authority, and fund balance drawdowns, and increased parking fees and fines and ticket blitz as budget fixes, with no long term financial budget projections. He accused the present Common Council of being “bobbleheads” for not demanding and scrutinizing city budget trends, and allegedly accepting whatever city hall wanted to do.
Criticising the ballooning certiorari settlements the city has made, Carlson said the city Mayor’s Office should be more proactive in challenging the certiorari suits and make it clear to businesses filing for certioraris that these suits were not welcome. He did not say how he would do that. He did say that if he were on the Common Council he would with his other councilman members go toAlbany to lobby for legislation to make the taxation of commercial and residential properties equal.
Carlson questioned the city’s claims in a campaign brochure circulated by Mayor Joseph Delfine that crime was down 38%, citing Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics released this morning that violent crime in White Plains was up in 2004 over both 2003 and 2002. WPCNR is attempting to acquire those statistics released by the FBI to discuss them with the Department of Public Safety for clarification.
Carlson when asked by WPCNR, said he had not called Commissioner of Public Safety Dr. Frank Straub to discuss the reasoning behind the Police Department statistics and the reasons why, (in Carlson's opinion), the FBI says violent crime was up, and White Plains says it was down. Carlson said that by the city's own information arrests were up which he said did not indicate to him that crime was down. Carlson said he wanted to know what was the truth.
