Rensselaer Mayor rejects Common Council budget

RENSSELAER, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Rensselaer’s Mayor Michael Stammel has issued a veto of the Common Councils amended budget.  

Mayor Stammel vetoed $334, 000 in spending increases approved by the city. When the Mayor took office seven months ago, the Common Council pledged to work with him, for the good of Rensselaer.

That pledge was broken almost immediately as the Common Council fought him over his efforts to revamp the city’s operations.

The Mayor says the common council has adopted a risky budget.

“They use one time revenue from the recent sale of city owned properties to create three new positions on the fire department,” he said.

The mayor says there will be no money to pay these positions come next year. Stammel says his budget proposed no layoffs and kept staffing levels for the police and fire department the same.

The relationship between the mayor and the Common Council has been conflicting.