Mount Vernon Votes To Bypass Comptroller on Pandemic Relief Funds

MOUNT VERNON, NY — The Mount Vernon City Council took unusual steps this week aimed at cutting embattled Comptroller Deborah Reynolds out of the process for receiving and spending millions of dollars in federal American Rescue Plan money.

After months of feuding and court battles with the comptroller over the release of city funds for approved budget items, the council made a move on Wednesday in an attempt to avoid similar infighting over an infusion of federal money, a portion of which is expected to hit city coffers next month. The lawmakers voted to send initial American Rescue Plan funding to the Mount Vernon City Clerk, rather than to the city comptroller’s office.

“We are in unprecedented times,” Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard told the council. “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.”

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The city clerk will not administer the funds, but will instead send the 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 with the accounting infrastructure to properly manage the funds.

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The 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.”

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The council indicated that if issues in the Finance Department and Comptroller’s office are rectified, Wednesday's decision would be temporary, allowing future American Rescue Plan money to be processed through a more traditional process.

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“We have these federal funds awarded to the city,” Chairperson Janice Duarte said at the Wednesday council meeting. “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.”