News
Apr 27 2010
Utica accidentally issues $300,000 in checks
Roefaro, Cerminaro spar over responsibility
Two hefty checks were wrongly issued recently from the city Comptroller's Office, the latest in a series of financial miscues.
The checks were federal stimulus loans for $150,000 apiece. One of them, mailed to Pezzolanella Contracting for a renovation project at 421 Broad St., was deposited but later paid back.
The other, to Stuart Bannatyne for his project at the Doyle Hardware building, was issued to the wrong address and was never cashed.
City Comptroller Michael Cerminaro called the O-D at around 2 p.m. Friday to report the error, saying he had discovered it while reviewing checks.
About 10 minutes later, mayoral aide Angelo Roefaro called to say a news release was coming from Mayor David Roefaro on the issue.
In that news release and a subsequent interview, the mayor said it was his staff that discovered the errors. He lambasted the comptroller for the oversight.
“Was Mr. Cerminaro out to lunch again?” the mayor asked, referring to a controversial vote that Cerminaro recently missed on a secret city investigation. Cerminaro was taking his staff to Babe's Macaroni Grill and Bar in North Utica at the time.
“If he is discovering his own mistakes,” the mayor said, “he should do it before issuing $300,000 of taxpayer money.”
Cerminaro, however, said the traditional method by which he is notified of such checks was not done this time.
Instead of being told directly by officials in the economic development department, which is part of the Roefaro administration, he instead found the notification on a memo that was not given to him directly.
“There was no accounting error,” he said. “This is simply an attempt by the mayor to divert attention away from the fact that there is not and has not been any real economic development in this city since he took office.”
Messages left for Pezzolanella Contracting and Bannatyne were not returned.
The relationship between the mayor and comptroller has become increasingly rocky over the last year. It reached a rhetorical peak during the recent budget season in which they questioned each other's effectiveness as public leaders.
More recently, Cerminaro has been critical of the mayor's backing of the confidential investigation to be undertaken by local attorney J.K. Hage III.
Cerminaro prevailed to win another four-year term as comptroller in 2009, but his office was also beset by several controversies. Payroll errors led to the early payments of snow-plowing bonuses to public works employees and stipends to codes workers.
The checks were federal stimulus loans for $150,000 apiece. One of them, mailed to Pezzolanella Contracting for a renovation project at 421 Broad St., was deposited but later paid back.
The other, to Stuart Bannatyne for his project at the Doyle Hardware building, was issued to the wrong address and was never cashed.
City Comptroller Michael Cerminaro called the O-D at around 2 p.m. Friday to report the error, saying he had discovered it while reviewing checks.
About 10 minutes later, mayoral aide Angelo Roefaro called to say a news release was coming from Mayor David Roefaro on the issue.
In that news release and a subsequent interview, the mayor said it was his staff that discovered the errors. He lambasted the comptroller for the oversight.
“Was Mr. Cerminaro out to lunch again?” the mayor asked, referring to a controversial vote that Cerminaro recently missed on a secret city investigation. Cerminaro was taking his staff to Babe's Macaroni Grill and Bar in North Utica at the time.
“If he is discovering his own mistakes,” the mayor said, “he should do it before issuing $300,000 of taxpayer money.”
Cerminaro, however, said the traditional method by which he is notified of such checks was not done this time.
Instead of being told directly by officials in the economic development department, which is part of the Roefaro administration, he instead found the notification on a memo that was not given to him directly.
“There was no accounting error,” he said. “This is simply an attempt by the mayor to divert attention away from the fact that there is not and has not been any real economic development in this city since he took office.”
Messages left for Pezzolanella Contracting and Bannatyne were not returned.
The relationship between the mayor and comptroller has become increasingly rocky over the last year. It reached a rhetorical peak during the recent budget season in which they questioned each other's effectiveness as public leaders.
More recently, Cerminaro has been critical of the mayor's backing of the confidential investigation to be undertaken by local attorney J.K. Hage III.
Cerminaro prevailed to win another four-year term as comptroller in 2009, but his office was also beset by several controversies. Payroll errors led to the early payments of snow-plowing bonuses to public works employees and stipends to codes workers.
