Mayor Patterson-Howard: “Mount Vernon has reached the financial cliff”, and “is under seige” from Comptroller Reynolds
Mt. Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard has called on State Attorney General Letitia James, and Westchester District Attorney Mimi Rocah to “investigate the city’s finances.”
The pleas for help come after the City faces a late budget, a budget hole, and has no idea how much money is in the City’s bank accounts or fund balance. Mayor Patterson-Howard may have no choice but to make cuts to City services and employees AND raise property taxes, but she has been stymied at finding out about the true financial health of the city by Comptroller Deborah Reynolds.
In another drastic move which shows how dire the situation is, the Mayor has also called on the City Council to call for an Emergency Financial Control Board to come into Mount Vernon and take over the financial duties of the City.
“This letter serves as a request to City council to enact legislation in the support of the New York State Legislature to advance the request for an Emergency Financial Control Board for the City of Mount Vernon. to assist with the financial duties of the City of Mount Vernon. This request does not come lightly, but as the Mayor, I’ve witnessed the dereliction of duty and gross fiscal malfeasance by our current Comptroller and have grave concerns about the financial state of our city.
“Financial Control Boards are not a new idea and currently there are several communities, including Yonkers, who have utilized them in the past. We can not afford to sit idly by while the financial status of our city remains in mystery while thousands of residents and our city workforce suffer from the inability of one person within our government. While this restricts Mount Vernon’s fiscal sovereignty, we are in a dire situation that requires immediate intervention. Mount Vernon has reached the financial cliff, without a full investigation into the obstruction and negligent actions of the Comptroller, Mount Vernon will face some difficult decisions in our immediate and near future that will have irreparable harm on our public health and safety,” writes Mayor Patterson-Howard.
In a letter to the Westchester District Attorney Mimi Rocah, the Mayor writes, “The City of Mount Vernon is facing a potential furlough/layoff of critical public safety, civil service and public works employees. For the last year we’ve documented and highlighted this issue and called on our Comptroller to provide financial information that is mandated by the charter. To this end, the Comptroller has been unwilling to come to the table and present documentation to help with the completion of the 2021 budget. The lack of cooperation from the Comptroller during this entire budget process is troubling. She continues to hide where the money of the City is being held through 39 different bank accounts that she refuses to shed light on, only allowing access to three of those accounts at Chase Bank.
“Her actions are a direct threat to the public safety of our community. Additionally, the Comptroller is spending unauthorized money on her personal attorneys outside of the view of the Board of Estimate and City Council, she has installed illegal firewalls to block outside access to the city’s internal records using MUNIS, and she has entered into illegal contracts with vendors, all outside the purview of governmental oversight.
“Furthermore, the Comptroller has shown her interference to provide this access to any members of the public and continues to obstruct the day to day governance of our city. I am asking for the Westchester County District Attorney’s office to utilize the Public Integrity Bureau to investigate the City of Mount Vernon’s finances and to prosecute to the full extent of the law any crimes committed by the Comptroller or employees of the city in regards to corruption, fraud or any other crimes. We do so under the suspicion that our Comptroller has violated the following NY Penal Laws:
· §195.00 — Official Misconduct
· §195.05 — Obstructing governmental administration in the second degree
· §195.07 — Obstructing governmental administration in the first degree
· §195.15 — Obstructing firefighting operations
· §195.16 — Obstructing emergency medical services
· §195.20 — Defrauding the government
In a letter to NYS Attorney General Letitia James, Mayor Patterson-Howard writes, “Mount Vernon is under siege. For more than three years, City Comptroller Deborah Reynolds has operated above the purview of the City of Mount Vernon with impunity. As Mayor, I’m reaching out to formally request direct intervention from the Public Integrity Bureau within your office. The fate and future of Mount Vernon is at stake.
“Ms. Reynolds began her abuse of power by sealing off the financial and purchasing system (MUNIS) from the executive and legislative branches with the installation of an illegal firewall in her office, illegally wire transferring money to her personal attorney, and has essentially operated as a rogue agency within City Hall. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she has refused much needed financial resources from HUD that could be allocated for re-opening Mount Vernon and ensuring public safety & health of our residents.
“Instead of operating with the transparency that befits her office, the Comptroller personally accepts, receipts, deposits and reconciles money cloaked in secrecy. For more than 35 months, she has refused to provide any financial reporting to either the legislative branch or executive branch. As a result, our City operates in financial darkness, and is unaware of the financial impact from COVID, nor are we capable of forecasting an accurate financial recovery plan. Frankly, Ms. Reynolds has failed to carry out her duties as an elected official and is instead causing Mount Vernon irreparable harm.
“I call on your Public Integrity Bureau to look into the City of Mount Vernon’s finances and to prosecute to the full extent of the law any crimes committed by the Comptroller or employees of the city in regard to corruption, fraud or any other crimes.”
In both of her letters to AG James and DA Rocah, Mayor Patterson-Howard identified 25 of her most egregious actions, including:
● Failure to accept tax payments from residents for months. It takes months for these payments to be accepted and processed.
● Failed to accurately budget for health insurance in the prior years, we are now 7.2 million behind in payments to the NYS Health Insurance Program.
● Rejected 4 million dollars in invoices that have been submitted for 2020 that have gone unpaid incurring potential lawsuits for non-payment and hampering the delivery of service.
● Failed to process step increases for CSEA and Teamsters and all of our unions have been without a contract for 2018, 2019, 2020
● Failed to process transfer taxes, which caused NYS title companies to send a letter threatening to stop doing business in Mount Vernon. This unprecedented action endangers local homeowners, buyers and realtors.
● Failed to sign off the voucher for the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services GIVE grant for $220,000. We are currently awaiting reimbursement for $183,000 that we are set to lose because she won’t process.
● Failed to comply with federal contract requirements related to 666 funds, of the US Department of Justice. She has refused to release these 666 funds desperately needed for the purchase of patrol vehicles, surveillance equipment and body cameras.
● Failed to accept funds owed and paid to the city. Turning away hundreds of thousands of dollars from revenue generating departments, including parking tickets, a $482,000 sewer bill in 2019 from the school district and money from PILOTS tax payments ($183,000) and various departmental revenues.
● Failed to transfer nearly 12 million dollars of federal money from HUD and the URA to the City for critical social needs.
● Obstructing the process of transfer taxes, which caused NYS title companies to send a letter threatening to stop doing business in Mount Vernon.
● Failure to disperse millions of dollars of HUD/URA money in a timely manner, nearly 12 million dollars to the City which obstructs the delivery of critical social needs.
● Failed to pay reimbursements for paving, holding up 2.7 million dollars in CHIPS money over an unpaid $370,000 bill from 2018, therefore obstructing our city from repaving roads for the last three years. She also refuses to sign off a voucher for the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services GIVE grant for $220,000 and $180,000.
● Failed to process school taxes, causing the school district to take over the collection of school taxes and costing the City of Mount Vernon $600,000+ in revenue.
● Failed to pay public safety personnel, refusing to pay overtime. Blocked the hiring of eleven firefighters in Oct/Nov 2019 because a family friend was not selected for the force, a blatant abuse of power.
Mayor Patterson-Howard also outlined the difficult budget that she is trying to pass without having the financial facts before her and the City Council. “We are on the precipice of passing a budget that will eliminate 33 positions that are vacant and layoff an additional 60 personnel at minimum. This initial group of 93 layoffs includes, 30 police officers, 25 firefighters, 19 DPW workers, and administrative staff. We believe we can utilize 8 million in our fund balance reserve, but we can’t confirm this with our comptroller and local banks. It would be irresponsible to decide to eliminate critical services, raise taxes at double digit levels and layoff people because we lack financial information to make these decisions. Stop the suffering of Mount Vernon residents from the Comptroller who is incompetent, immature, and displays blatant malfeasance similar to the levels of Donald Trump, a man you stood up to vociferously.”
