Court Blocks Council's Attempt To Bench Embattled Comptroller

MOUNT VERNON, NY — The Mount Vernon City Council's plan to cut Comptroller Deborah Reynolds out of the process for receiving and spending millions of dollars in federal American Rescue Plan money has been blocked by the courts.

On Tuesday, New York State Supreme Court Justice Terry Ruderman granted a temporary restraining order barring any Mount Vernon agency, other than the comptroller's office, from receiving or administering the American Rescue Plan funds from the federal government. The order also requires the city to return to the comptroller's office any rescue plan funds already received.

The comptroller had sought the emergency injunction after the city council voted to remove Reynolds from the process entirely. Her attorneys argued that Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard and the Mount Vernon City Council overstepped their authority when they voted on April 14 to redirect the expected federal windfall away from the comptroller's office, which would ordinarily receive and administer the funds.

After months of feuding and court battles with the comptroller over the release of city funds for approved budget items, the council made the unusual move in April in an attempt to avoid similar infighting over the infusion of federal rescue plan money, a portion of which was expected to hit city coffers as soon as this month. The lawmakers voted that the initial American Rescue Plan funds would be received by the Mount Vernon City Clerk, rather than by the city comptroller’s office.

“We are in unprecedented times,” Patterson-Howard said at the time. “And if we’re going to be transparent, let’s be transparent about the fact that the city is being held hostage by someone who has not managed the money. We have to take unprecedented steps.”

The plan did not call for the city clerk to administer the funds, but would instead send money to the Board of Water Supply. The Board of Water Supply was chosen to oversee the initial pandemic relief money expected from the federal government because it is considered to be the only city department, other than the comptroller's office, with the accounting infrastructure to properly manage the funds.

The April vote to bypass the comptroller from the process passed without any council members voting to oppose the measure. Councilperson Delia Farquharson abstained from the vote, calling adoption of the new rules “rushed.”

“We have these federal funds awarded to the city,” Chairperson Janice Duarte said prior to the vote to strip Reynolds of the authority to manage the federal money. “We need to safeguard those funds. That’s what the council’s priority is to do. Safeguard these funds for the public good. Given the lack of transparency in the Finance Department, we don’t have that guarantee that the funds will be safeguarded.”

Although Justice Ruderman's decision temporarily blocks the city council's plan, it stops short of invalidating the hastily prepared ordinances stripping the comptroller of control of the federal money. Both parties are scheduled to again appear before the justice again on June 9.

SEE ALSO:

• Mount Vernon Votes To Bypass Comptroller on Pandemic Relief Funds
• Out Of Gas: Judge Orders Comptroller To Pay Overdue Fuel Bills
• Gas Rationing For Police: Mayor Declares Fuel Emergency
• Mayor: It Will Take 'Act Of God' To Avoid City Shutdown