Former Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Finance Minita Sanghvi has posted a defense on her personal Facebook page of her management of the city’s finances during her two years in office. The city has found that she ran deficits in every budget she crafted during her four years in office, including the current budget under which the city is operating, which shows an approximately $5 million deficit.

Sanghvi cites all the increases in costs during her terms as contributing to the city’s financial problems, and they are considerable. It is true that retirement costs, health insurance, etc. have all been increasing, contributing to financial stress in many local municipalities, including Saratoga. Sanghvi does, however, make one stunning admission of culpability on her part alone: her failure to plan how the city would pay for major expenses incurred on her watch and with her support. Consistent with her chronic mismanagement, she seems unaware of the gravity of her admission. In her piece, she writes:

Now here is the thing about fire-fighters overtime. The mayor signed an agreement with the fire-fighters union about making sure there were 4 people on a firetruck. There are several studies that show that this is safer for fire-fighters. But it is also important to note that in Saratoga Springs a mayor can sign ANY agreement with unions on their pay, benefits, etc. without getting a financial impact statement from the Finance department. I should have asked the mayor to wait on that agreement and should have provided the city a financial impact statement as they do at the county. (But this is something I have learned from my time as County Supervisor) [JK:Emphasis added]

So, what is a “financial impact study?” It is a fancy phrase for whether something is affordable. It is beyond stunning that Sanghvi would make this statement, because it speaks to the folly of all her budgets that included many additional items for the city’s operations, which she approved and voted for, for which she apparently did not bother to conduct “impact statements.”

She Was Warned

In a post way back on October 5, 2022, I warned in this blog that the SAFER grant to hire the sixteen firefighters that the city had applied for was a time bomb. I wrote to Sanghvi repeatedly, asking what the plan was for paying for these additional firefighters after the grant ended, and never received a reply.

When Mayor Kim brought the contract with the firefighters’ union, referred to in the above quote, before the Council for adoption, he cavalierly noted that the city’s labor attorney had warned him to include a sunset clause in the agreement, which he dismissed. The contract, which Sanghvi voted for, would require the city to spend approximately an additional $2,000,000.00 a year to cover the cost of these firefighters once the federal grant ended. Sanghvi now admits as Finance Commissioner she should have planned for this. It is truly amazing that in four years as Finance Commissioner this never occurred to her. Since it is in the contract without a sunset clause, we are perpetually locked into paying this money. It is a major factor in the city’s current fiscal crisis.

Her Statement

I have made it a policy not to respond to attacks. But I am tired of the people trying to reframe my record as finance commissioner. HERE ARE SOME FACTS:

We submitted the Annual Financial Report to the State Comptroller on time all 4 years.

My team and the city maintained AA+ credit rating all 4 years.

All budgets were presented on time and adopted on time (unlike many other municipalities around) without exceeding the tax cap.

And the city had a “no designation” for its fiscal stress score (which means that the city was not under fiscal stress).

AND we collected 12 years’ worth of delinquent taxes that the new administration stalled as soon as they took office.

I was the most transparent Finance Commissioner providing information on our revenues (which were good) and our rising expenses and overtime (which were major constraints). I did this at every meeting and especially during budget season.

Here is what happened – Our economy jumped back after 2020. But so did inflation.

An ambulance that cost $180,000 in 2019 was costing $587,000 in 2026.

Other costs went up –

Liability Insurance went up 188% increasing from $834,732 in 2022 to $2,408,693 to 2026

There was an 86% increase in retirement costs from $4,441,742 from 2022 to $9,951,409 to 2026

Health Insurance costs increased 27% from $7,823,776 to $9,951,409

This is all published data from the city budgets that I have presented. Almost every budget season we talked about the rising costs and beseeched the departments to cut costs and stop hiring new people.

During this time the public safety budget went up over $10 million. And yet, they were constantly going over budget because of overtime. Now here is the thing about fire-fighters overtime. The mayor signed an agreement with the fire-fighters union about making sure there were 4 people on a firetruck. There are several studies that show that this is safer for fire-fighters. But it is also important to note that in Saratoga Springs a mayor can sign ANY agreement with unions on their pay, benefits, etc. without getting a financial impact statement from the Finance department. I should have asked the mayor to wait on that agreement and should have provided the city a financial impact statement as they do at the county. (But this is something I have learned from my time as County Supervisor)

We tried our best to plan better so we were better financially prepared for the future. We created the strategic budget and forecasting group and we tried to get better forecasts for future expenses and revenues. We worked with different departments to help them better understand the financial issues. I also requested both mayors that I served with to help create a strategic plan for the city so we were all working towards the same vision.

Inflation and rising costs are hitting many cities around the country. Closer to home, Schenectady, Albany and many other cities are going through the exact same issue. So, trying to blame me for something that is happening everywhere is just petty politics.

Minita Sanghvi

I feel for the last four years I have been like Cassandra, warning that former Saratoga Springs Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi’s budgets were thrown together with little understanding of the city’s spending, let alone planning for the future. I warned in this blog that this would lead to a budget deficit that would challenge this community. Well, the numbers are out, and they are even worse than I anticipated, leaving the city in a major financial hole that will require a lot of pain to fill.

The following graph, prepared by the Finance Department in order to educate the public on the seriousness we face, is from a city release. Each tan column represents the actual spending each year. The blue line represents how much income the city took in each year. The red and green columns represent how much the city overspent/underspent each year. It is important to note that in the first column for the year 2022, the budget was prepared not by Commissioner Sanghvi but by her predecessor, Michele Madigan. Not coincidentally, that (the green column in the lower left) was the only year that the city actually operated within its budget, leaving a fund balance (reserve) for Commissioner Sanghvi of a whopping seventeen million dollars which Sanghvi has recklessly squandered.

There is still a significant amount of time before this fiscal year is over, so it is an inexact art to project what it will cost the city to operate for the balance of the year and how deep in the red we will be. Regrettably, there is little doubt much of our fund balance will have been exhausted to fill Sanghvi’s budget holes. The city’s policies and procedures require that the city fund balance represent at least 10% and no more than 25% of the city budget; the city will have little in the way of resources to fill what will be a widening gap next year.

The Chart

The Full Press Release

At a time when the city is facing severe financial challenges, a recent audit has revealed that former Saratoga Springs Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran arbitrarily and illegally waived $54,000 in special events fees owed to the city.

The city hosts around 80 special events each year. Many of these events require the support of the Department of Public Safety and/or the Department of Public Works for road closures, emergency medical services, traffic control, etc.

In 2022, Commissioner Dillon Moran received approval from the City Council to consolidate the bills generated by city departments assisting local organizations’ special events (Chowderfest, 5K Run, etc.). In the past, each department had billed organizations directly. No one at the time had any idea how far Moran would go in improperly exploiting this opportunity to elevate himself as the czar of special events.

Many of us had heard that Moran was routinely violating city regulations by discounting or waiving the fees required by the city for work to facilitate special events. Now, an audit has revealed the extent of his largess with public money.

The city policy could not be clearer.

“There shall be no donation of City goods or services unless previously approved by the City Council (JK:emphasis added). All goods and services shall be charged according the the fees approved by the City Council.”

-Finance Policy and Procedure Manual – Section XIII: Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

So any deviation from paying for work done by the city required special resolutions by the Council approving the change. As the spreadsheet documents below, Moran, without any authority and hidden from the general public, routinely bypassed the Council and waived or discounted the bills to organizations favored by him.

He Just Made Stuff Up

There are no records of how Moran arrived at his policy or how he determined the size of the discounts he gave out. He assumed rather royal authority.

As part of the audit, there are spreadsheets below listing all the special events, the cost to the city for these events, and how much Moran discounted or waived charges.

In the spreadsheet for the year 2022 below, under notes for events, the only explanation for waivers was occasionally the euphemism “economic development adjustment.” There is nothing in the city’s policies and procedures about an “economic development adjustment.” Moran just created this fig leaf to create the appearance that there was some sort of reason for his beneficence.

At the April 18, 2023, Council meeting, Commissioner Moran advised the Council that he had learned from the New York State Conference of Mayors, the New York State Attorney General’s office, and the New York State Comptroller that Police Departments cannot charge for police time. It was unclear at the time whether the civilians (non-police) employed by the city to handle traffic management and code enforcement would be included in these opinions.

Regrettably, Moran made no effort to memorialize this discovery in the city’s Policy and Procedures Manual, nor did he explore the issue of charging for the services of civilians working in the Public Safety Department. Revisiting these policies would have prompted a thorough review of his practices, which he probably wanted to avoid.

Commissioner Kiernan’s Rigorous Methodology

This audit was prepared by the Finance Department. Its thoroughness and prudence reflect the impressive talents of Finance Commissioner JoAnne Kiernan.

To be especially careful in determining how much Moran gave away, she excluded all Police and non-Police traffic related costs incurred after April 18, 2023.

I would add that while Moran has made much of the police exception to defend his discounts, he has scrupulously avoided the obvious impropriety involved in waiving Department of Public Works fees. Unlike for police, there is nothing in state law that precludes paying the kind of bills submitted by the Department of Public Works.

Taking Care of His Friends

The greatest beneficiary of Moran’s generosity was Todd Shimkus and the Chamber of Commerce events.

Todd Shimkus is the President of the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce. According to the Chamber’s 990 form, Shimkus makes $240,000.00. Shimkus was a generous donor to Moran and attended his fundraising events.

As an example of Moran’s generosity to his friend Shimkus, look at the spreadsheet for the celebration “Belmont on Broadway,” an event put on by the Chamber in 2022 (before the revelation of police exclusion). The Department of Public Safety billed $11,333.00 for the event. Shimkus’ organization was billed only $4,725.00. The note on the event reads, “$3,120 traffic; $525.00 code; $7,688.00 FD (JK: Fire Department).” The city had to “eat” the other $6,608.00.

Blaming The Messenger

After four years of improper discounts and waivers, Finance Commissioner Kiernan and Accounts Commissioner Jessica Troisi have had the unenviable problem of dealing with the outrage of the individuals and organizations who were the beneficiaries of Moran’s “generosity” who now have to pay the real costs to the city.

Moran, Kim, Golub, and Sanghvi’s profligate spending during their tenures has created a major financial crisis for the city. Commissioner Kiernan has been burdened with trying to untangle the mess that has been used to hide this train wreck. This city is so lucky to have someone of Kiernan’s skills and dedication as its Commissioner of Finance. To offer some sense of the chaos Kiernan inherited, consider that the city’s outside auditor has been unable to audit our books for 2025 because the record-keeping was not properly maintained under former Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi. As a measure of the breakdown in finance under Sanghvi, it is the end of July, and the outside auditor has still been unable to audit the 2025 books.

Kiernan inherited a budget for 2026 (Sanghvi’s budget for this year) which wildly underestimated expenses and wildly inflated expected income. The full scope of the looming crisis will only be determined once Kiernan has been able to properly balance Sanghvi’s accounts and address the many errors in record keeping.

Dealing With The Anger

Commissioner Kiernan and Commissioner of Accounts Jessica Troisi have been the targets of anger as organizations are outraged at the bills that now reflect the true cost of providing support services for special events.

We are very lucky to have Kiernan and Troisi as our Commissioners, and I hope that people will come to appreciate what they are doing to straighten out the mess they inherited.

Civility vs Accountability

This city has suffered from several years of the worst partisan behavior at the Council table. A number of Council members in previous administrations attacked their colleagues at every opportunity in the most toxic and ugly manner, often over actions that never existed.

In contrast, the current Council has placed a premium on comity. In the past, the worst violators of decorum seemed more interested in scoring political points than in properly managing the city. The difference in the civil behavior at the Council table now is striking and welcome.

What Dillon Moran did regarding the fee waiver was a clear abuse of his authority. The city’s code makes crystal clear that the Council as a body determines what groups planning special events should pay, not the Commissioner of Accounts.

I believe that a violation of trust as extensive as Moran’s in this matter needs some kind of disciplinary action. The idea that a public official should give away city resources at their personal whim to ingratiate themselves with certain groups and individuals deserves some kind of disciplinary action, especially in light of the other dubious activities that have plagued the Department of Accounts under the former Commissioner.

To their credit, most of the members of the Council are reluctant to censure Moran. He is no longer in a position of authority. Such an action could be interpreted as mean-spirited and a return to the bad old days.

I sympathize with their concerns, but to simply ignore such an extreme violation of public trust only empowers more such behavior in the future. I encourage the Council to find an appropriate action to assure the public that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated

The Special Events Audit

At the July 7, 2026, Saratoga Springs City Council meeting, Dave Buchyn spoke during the public comment period. Mr. Buchyn, who is Vice President of the Upstate Conservative Coalition and former chair of the Saratoga County Conservative Party, offered critical commentary about the histories of two Saratoga Springs elected officials, addressing them directly.

Under the Council’s normal public-comment protocol, the Mayor explains that speakers are strictly limited to three minutes and should direct their remarks to the Council as a whole.

Mr. Buchyn began by singling out Saratoga County Supervisor Sara Burger and Public Works Commissioner BK Keramati.

Commissioner of Accounts Jessica Troisi interrupted him and asked Mayor Safford, “This can’t be appropriate?”

The Mayor then carried on a brief exchange with Buchyn during which he granted that Buchyn had the right to say whatever he wanted but urged him to email these concerns rather than express them at the meeting. Buchyn and the Mayor are friends and Buchyn graciously agreed to end his comments.

Correcting The Record

Following the public comment period, the Council discussed whether Buchyn had the right to make those remarks.

Public Safety Commissioner Coll explained to his colleagues that, under the city’s recent agreement with the New York State Attorney General and opinions issued by the New York State Committee on Open Government, the city cannot legally restrict speakers based on the content of their remarks. He emphasized that, no matter how offensive or disturbing some comments may be, the law protects the speakers’ right to make them.

Anyone who has followed this blog has seen numerous videos of activists cursing at, taunting, and shouting at Council members without consequence. Readers will also know that meeting decorum has been a major issue, one that has drawn the city into litigation and proceedings involving the Attorney General.

Coll was simply reminding his colleagues of that history and cautioning them about the legal consequences of disregarding it.

BK Keramati Never Listens

Public Works Commissioner Keramati joined the discussion by telling his colleagues that he “took exception” to Coll’s statement. He then argued that public comments should be limited to matters of city policy and that personal attacks should be prohibited. That Coll had just explained that the law does not permit such content-based restrictions appeared to escape Keramati.

Regrettably, Commissioner Keramati seems to be continuing a pattern established during the previous two administrations, in which inconvenient facts— including laws and authoritative legal opinions—are treated as though they do not exist. At no point did Keramati address Coll’s central argument: that the law protects even the most offensive verbal attacks.

Readers should also recall that Commissioner Keramati did nothing to object when previous Council members were subjected to severe abuse during the Black Lives Matter controversy.

I could not agree more with Commissioner Keramati that participants should be civil and respectful at Council meetings. At the risk of sounding snarky, however, I must ask: Where has Commissioner Keramati been for the past seven years? I don’t recall him criticizing Ron Kim, past Mayor and now chair of the city’s Democratic Committee, past Commissioner of Accounts Dillon Moran, and past Commissioner of Finance Minita Sanghvi who vigorously attacked their colleagues and supported the toxic attacks by the BLM people.

At the June 16, 2026, Saratoga Springs City Council meeting Mayor John Safford introduced a resolution to adopt changes to the city charter recommended by the Charter Review Commission.

In a very strange incident, Public Works Commissioner BK Keramati vigorously attacked the resolution and then voted to adopt it. The resolution passed unanimously.

While I was pleased that Keramati voted for the charter changes, given how strenuously he had opposed passing the changes just before the vote, and given that he offered no explanation for his change of heart, this seemed especially odd.

I was especially curious as to why he changed his vote, because to date, he has loyally and uncritically supported the local Democratic Committee, whose opposition to the proposed changes was caustic. His vote had to have angered them, so it would have been truly revealing to know which of the committee’s false allegations Keramati disagreed with.

I wrote three emails to Keramati politely asking him why he changed his vote. I copied the other members of the Council on one of the emails.

Commissioner Keramati did not reply to any of my emails.

So, in the interest of pursuing the truth, I actually attended the last Council meeting to ask that he answer my question. (22 seconds)

Refusing To Answer the Public Why They Voted A Certain Way Is A Violation Of Trust

I was disappointed once again as Commissioner Keramati was silent, refusing to explain to the public his reasons for his vote.

Being a public official in this age of recrimination is not easy. They are the subject of continual attack, both fair and unfair. There are limits to the time they can devote to their duties as well.

Still, at the heart of democracy is transparency. For BK Keramati to effectively stonewall on the issue of the city’s fundamental document, the charter, and refuse to reveal why he voted the way he did, is most unfortunate.

The Supporting Videos

Keramati Opposes Vote On Charter Changes (1 Minute 55 Seconds)

Keramati Votes For Charter Changes (6 Minutes and 3 Seconds)

Unless you live under a rock somewhere in the South Pacific, you know that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were married on July 4, 2026. The event was so excessively lavish that it must have cost as much as Jeff Bezos’ wedding, in which Bezos basically rented the city of Venice, Italy.

I think I can legitimately call myself a romantic. I cry at movies. I am not above enjoying a chick flick in which the couple lives happily ever after. My own wedding was a modest and warm event at our home with about twenty members of Jane’s and my extended families.

A Spectacle As Romantic As…

The Swift/Kelce wedding was held in Madison Square Garden (MSG). The Garden is better known for hosting some of the greatest boxing matches of all time than for its romanticism. Reportedly, to provide the needed effort for some sort of love theme, Swift and Kelce had planned to erect a castle inside MSG. It would seem to make some sort of effort at a Walt Disney Snow White fantasy (Could it really not be tacky?).

There were widespread reports before the wedding that the venue would feature a large fairytale “castle” set as part of the décor. Entertainment outlets reported that crews were building an elaborate temporary structure with grand staircases, faux trees, white railings, and garden scenery to transform the arena into a storybook setting.  

However, shortly before the ceremony, other reports—including one from People citing sources close to the event—said those “castle” rumors were overstated. According to those sources, there was no literal castle. Instead, the arena was transformed into an elaborate indoor garden with grass, canopies, flowers, trees, and a stage for the ceremony.  

What An AI Search Produced

According to published reports, some 1,000 people were invited to the nuptials.

I am trying to wrap my head around all this.

Who has a thousand friends they want at their wedding? How do you even put together a list of a thousand? Maybe if I subscribed to Ancestry.com, I could come up with a thousand.

This is a further sign of this blogger’s age and his retro culture. Being old-school, I view a wedding as a way for people who actually care about the couple getting married to express their joy for the bride and groom. Concomitantly, it is an expression of kinship by the bride and groom with the people privileged to be invited.

I also consider it more than quaint for the bride and groom to personally express their appreciation to each of their guests for coming.

I rather doubt that Ms. Taylor and Mr. Kelsey found the time (and probably not the interest) to personally greet the guests who may have made the trip.

I also wonder what kind of gift to give to two people who have such great wealth. They probably don’t need a good frying pan or a chafing dish.

So, Why Put On Such An Event?

The cost of this event is estimated to be well over $20,000,000.00

There was a time, a charming time, when modesty was considered a virtue and when putting on an event as excessive as this wedding would have been taboo. I was curious as to the scale of J.P. Morgan’s weddings (1800’s), who, at the time, was considered one of the richest, if not the richest, men in the world. He was married twice, and each was a small private affair.

One possibility is that this event is part of a branding/advertising strategy. As Ms. Swift is estimated to be worth over two billion dollars and her concerts are uniformly sold out, she does not appear to require such publicity. (I don’t know what Mr. Kelce’s money situation is, but I expect he is comfortable and the route to his financial fortunes is firmly planted on football turf.)

I Am Honestly Perplexed.

I truly do not understand why Ms. Swift and Mr. Kelce put this event on.

Why would they invite a thousand people? What was the purpose of this thing?

When I think of the people who work two or three jobs to support their families and do not have health care, and I look at this wedding, the most glaring expression of conspicuous consumption I have ever seen, I simply scratch my head.

The Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee, now led by Ron Kim, issued a white paper on their Facebook page attacking the current Charter Commission’s work the day before the Commission’s proposals were to come before the City Council for a vote. The problem is that it is manifestly obvious from their criticisms that they never bothered to actually read the proposed changes. The Democrats remoteness from reality regarding the actual contents of the unanimously adopted charter changes is simply stunning. (Their entire paper is at the end of this post.)

Here, for example, is item #4 from their attack.

The problem is that due to sloppy wording in the charter, audits actually were not required to be conducted by the Finance Department under the charter. Vincent DeLeonardis, who served two administrations as City Attorney and chairs the Charter Commission, patiently walks the Council and members of the public through what little relationship the Democratic Committee’s criticism had to what was actually being proposed. One has to wonder how Kim and the other unknown authors could have written this.

[JK:This video is 2 minutes and three seconds long]

The following is an excerpt from the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee’s attack regarding Assessments.

7. Say hello to the MAGA-fication of the Assessment Review Board. Under the proposed changes, the Board of Assessment Review loses its mandate to ensure “equity and fairness,” and non-resident property owners lose their guaranteed notice-and-hearing rights related to property assessments — both removed with no explanation.

Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee

Here DeLeonardis again exposes the ignorance of the authors.

[JK: This video is 1 minute and 22 seconds long]

Peter Martin’s Memory Problems

Earlier in the evening, during the public hearing on the proposed charter changes, Peter Martin spoke in support of the Democratic Committee’s claim that the new language about “supervisors” endangers our representation in county government. Martin had been the Commissioner of Public Safety and also at one time represented Saratoga Springs at the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors.

Martin offered remarks that were lawyerly in the worst sense of the word. While Martin was considerably more adroit in his remarks than the Democratic Committee’s white paper, they were just as disingenuous.

The real clincher in Martin’s remarks came when DeLeonardis observed that he had served with Martin on the 2018 Charter Commission. In that role, Martin had voted for the very language he now opposes as did Gordon Boyd who is also curiously now a vocal opponent of the proposed change in charter language.

For a refresher on Gordon Boyd’s Kafka arguments regarding the supervisor controversy, [check out this link.]

All the Democratic Committee’s Claims Were False

All the claims of some kind of MAGA conspiracy, as asserted by Kim, Boyd, et al in the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee in their paper, are of similar inauthenticity. The Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee newsletter urged people to attend the Council meeting at which the charter changes were to be adopted. I believe five of the usual committee members showed up. They were fervent in their attack on the proposed charter changes. It appeared they all unfortunately relied on the veracity of the claims made by Kim and whoever helped him write the piece.

The Following Is The Complete Statement From the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee From Their Facebook Page

ON TUESDAY, JUNE 16TH, the Saratoga Springs City Council is poised to approve sweeping Charter changes that ignore state law, weaken the city’s financial controls, sidestep voter input, and disenfranchise all of us.

Mayor Safford’s Charter Review Commission is proposing seismic shifts in the balance of power in Saratoga Springs, curtailing citizens’ rights in order for city leadership to shirk accountability. Our City Charter is like the U.S. Constitution, it’s the foundation of our government. The Mayor wants to change it without fully disclosing or even calculating how these changes will impact City functions and what it will cost.

We can’t let the Mayor do this. Please join us at Tuesday’s City Council meeting and speak out!

**City Council Regular Meeting**

Tuesday, June 16, 7:00pm

474 Broadway, City Council Room

Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

 11 REASONS TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE CHARTER CHANGES 

1. Saratogians have no say. There are many, many proposed changes–every section of the Charter has been changed, yet there have only been two public hearings before the City Council (the bare minimum), no independent legal review or budgetary analysis of how these changes will impact our City, and what these changes will cost taxpayers. Every proposed change should go before voters.

2. Saratogians will lose power within the county. Our current charter guarantees the city two County Supervisors, but this proposal opens the door for the City to lose one Supervisor. That means Saratoga Springs could have the same level of representation as towns 1/30th our size! And according to the State’s Municipal Home Rule Law, altering the structure or method of electing an elective office generally requires a public vote. The city could easily have a lawsuit on their hands by sidestepping state law.

3. We have no idea how much this will cost. These are YOUR tax dollars and YOUR representatives, yet the city has made no attempt to produce a full, independent review of what these changes will cost and how they’ll impact the city’s budget and operations.

4. Yet, financial oversight will be gutted. Under the current charter, our Commissioner of Finance is required to produce annual internal audits. Under the proposed changes, these audits become optional and an annual review of the City’s investment policy is eliminated entirely!

5. And city-wide reassessments could jack up your taxes. By changing assessor duties and eliminating the Commissioner of Accounts’ ability to manage assessments, the City would open the door to full citywide property reassessments for the first time in over 20 years! Could a citywide reassessment shift the property tax burden from corporations to residents? Without a proper analysis, we’re all in the dark–and on the hook.

6. Say goodbye to real accountability for police misconduct. While the charter codifies the City’s Civilian Review Board, the body charged with increasing police accountability and credibility with the public, a companion local law would strip the Board’s subpoena power at the same time — shredding prior reforms and leaving police misconduct investigations up to the police themselves.

7. Say hello to the MAGA-fication of the Assessment Review Board. Under the proposed changes, the Board of Assessment Review loses its mandate to ensure “equity and fairness,” and non-resident property owners lose their guaranteed notice-and-hearing rights related to property assessments — both removed with no explanation.

8. Opening the door to rigged bids for City contracts that cost you more. The proposed changes weaken the City’s competitive bidding protections by significantly raising bid thresholds ($20K→$35K and $10K→$20K) and eliminating current language that requires the City to seek the “lowest responsible bidder.” Competitive bidding ensures transparency, prevents conflicts of interest, and saves taxpayer dollars – so why is Saratoga Springs looking to gut these protections?

9. Rolling back City planning while development pressures grow. The proposed changes would cut the frequency with which our City’s Comprehensive Plan needs to be reviewed (from 5 years to 10 years), even as the city faces increasingly serious development pressures and an affordable housing crisis. Plus, the duties of some of the planning boards we rely on to keep the City on track are reduced with no rationale whatsoever.

10. Charter Review Commission members cash out–and you lose. At least one Charter Commission member will get a new paid position out of the proposed Charter changes as the City Historian–at exactly the same time as our Finance Commissioner looks to institute a hiring freeze. Plus, it’s rumored that the Chair of the Commission will soon be given a cushy City Court judgeship as thanks for his work on these sweeping changes.

11. The City’s own Attorney says voters should have a say. At the Agenda Meeting this morning, our own City Attorney stated on the record that these changes should be approved by the voters in a referendum.

…And this isn’t even the half of it! Join us at Tuesday’s City Council meeting (6/16) to make your voice heard, and please share with neighbors!

At the June 16 Saratoga Springs City Council Meeting, Finance Commissioner JoAnne Kiernan did a presentation on the city’s finances. People who follow this blog know that I have written extensively, and regrettably, about the utter mismanagement in the Finance Department under former Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi. For four years, Ms. Sanghvi failed to provide accurate and readable financial reports. As her email auto reply continued to affirm during her term in office, she viewed her job as part-time, and the result has been a debacle. She simply failed to devote the time required to both understand and manage the city’s money. Her budgets often had wildly optimistic assumptions about city income and projected expenses that were obviously inadequate given past spending patterns. Now the proverbial chickens have come home to roost.

In a report to the Council, Kiernan, without naming Sanghvi, detailed how the finance office under Sanghvi dangerously squandered the city’s reserves to hide the utter inability of her office to carry out the most basic of fiscal procedures. It has left the city vulnerable by squandering its financial reserves and failing to craft a way by which the city could live within its means.

Sanghvi Systematically Drained The City’s Reserves

Kiernan’s presentation included several charts documenting the city’s financial problems.

The chart below documents how Sanghvi ran continual deficits of increasing size. She balanced the books by drawing on the city’s reserves rather than controlling costs or increasing revenues. The bitter truth was that her budgets documented her utter ignorance of the city’s spending.

The tan/yellow line at the top of this chart shows the city’s actual expenditures each year from 2022. The green line displays how much the city took in as revenue. At the bottom, in blue, is the 2022 surplus (Sanghvi drew on the budget created by former Finance Commissioner Michele Madigan), and in red are the growing annual deficits.

The city is required to maintain a certain percentage in reserve money each year. Sanghvi managed to blow the huge reserve she inherited from Michele Madigan. The city is now just above the city’s minimum surplus required by New York State.

What The Auditor Revealed

Emblematic of the problem was the revelation at the beginning of this year that this city’s accounting firm was unable to audit our books. The firm cited that the city’s books are in disarray.

Finance Commissioner JoAnne Kiernan is a stand-up professional. Note that she never mentions Minita Sanghvi by name, but her presentation was easy to understand, and its implications were devastating.

This city finally has a real professional who does not view her role as “only part-time” as her predecessor did. Kiernan is an accountant by profession, and it shows.

The video is 32 seconds.

Some of the Auditor’s Observations

• Incomplete reconciliations [JK: Absolutely stunning revelation. This is fundamental to any kind of bookkeeping.]
• Insufficient documentation for journal entries
• Failure to use the city’s microfiche software as part of the city’s internal control process
• Misposting of financial information
• Spreadsheets not updated to reflect actual transactions
• Problems with bond payments, postings, and fund transfers “due to and from” accounts
• Required interest payments were not completed

Commissioner Coll and Commissioner Kiernan Discuss Who Was Responsible For The Crisis (2 minutes 17 seconds)

A Great Presentation On The State Of The City’s Finances (5 minutes 27 seconds)

This video is of Commissioner Kiernan’s full presentation on the city’s finances. It’s not long, and it is very well done. You will not need an accounting degree to follow her slides and commentary.