Politics & Government
Verona Passes Amended Budget
Verona officials kept mum after passing an amended 2012 budget on Tuesday.
After interrupting its regular workshop meeting to hold a closed executive session, Verona Borough Council members unanimously passed an amended 2012 budget. But what that means for residents is still unclear.
Officials did not discuss their decision publicly and said residents can review the budget at the borough building later in the week, after it has been advertised. The budget passed “tentatively" and has to be on display for 10 days before it is considered final, according to Borough Manager Bonnie Conway.
Asked to elaborate on the version of the budget officials approved, councilwoman Rhoda Gemellas-Worf declined to comment until copies are made public.
“I might get hanged,” said Gemellas-Worf, who heads the finance committee.
has grown around thorny issues such as a pay increase for the borough manager, unreliable accounting and budgeting practices, and revenue and expense discrepancies between a preliminary version of the budget and one passed in December.
Since voting to for discussion on Jan. 10, officials have argued over whether to give Conway a raise that amounts to a 22-percent increase, from a $27,040 salary in 2011 to a proposed $33,280 in 2012.
Gemellas-Worf, councilwoman Sandra Drabicki-Bell and several residents called for a lower raise at a special meeting on Jan. 16, noting that the standard raise is 3-percent each year. Officials worried that a 22-percent raise would set a bad precedent for government employees negotiating wages in the future.
When during Tuesday’s meeting council President Dom Conte asked the 15 residents in attendance to step into the hallway so that officials could enter an executive session, a resident asked how long it would be. Three minutes, said councilwoman Peggy Suchevich; more like five, Conte said.
About forty minutes later—after exchanging gossip in the hall, pausing occasionally when officials’ voices rose to a level that competed with the chatter—residents reentered the chambers. All had waited to hear the verdict.
The meeting concluded minutes later, without further discussion, and residents shuffled back through the hall.
