A deficit of leadership in Hoboken

on May 27, 2008 at 2:51 PM, updated May 27, 2008 at 3:15 PM

It isn't difficult, really. The purpose of a finance and budget committee is to set a budget. Implicit in that statement is that the members of the committee would obey all laws and meeet all obligations pertaining to the budget.

Then there's Hoboken.

This year's budget, it would appear, cannot be balanced because last year's budget was - there's no gentle way to say this - fraudulent. What else do you call a budget that is only balanced because it pushes last year's healthcare costs onto this years budget - but without actually telling anyone that is happening? There is no shortage of heads that should roll for this.

First up would be the finance and budget committeepersons - Michael Russo, Ruben Ramos, and Nino Giacchi. These people ran for office to make financial decisions for the people of Hoboken. You think they'd want to make sure that the "balance brought forward" part of this year's budget was understood before they began deciding anything else. What does it say about how these councilpersons approach their jobs that they were surprised at City Business Manager Richard England's admission that the budget was, in fact, not balanced at all?

The exchange is priceless:

"Did you tell the mayor it was under-funded when it came to this council?" Russo asked.

England responded, "I might have."

Uh..."might"? This is the sort of glaring problem that should probably have been put in writing and promulgated to every member of the City Council.

Mayor David Roberts was not at the meeting at this point, but rushed back from the shore to appear three hours into the five-hour meeting.

Roberts said that he was not told until recently of the budget deficit, and that his administration never made him aware of the deferral of health care payments before the last two weeks.

"Let no person here say that I was party to this," Roberts said.

It looks to me like Roberts was so worried about this budget problem that he had to work overtime down at the shore. If this meeting had been anything close to normal length, he would have missed the whole thing. Or we could take a more realistic view - that the Mayor didn't want to be in the room when the spit hit the fan.

Here's a lesson in power. Authority can be delegated; responsibility cannot. A leader can give someone who works for them enough power to get a specific job done. However, the responsibility for ensuring the job is done cannot be pushed off with a weak "But I told someone else to do it."

I can't tell from this remove who dropped the ball - or if there was just possibly an unspoken agreement that the ball would just be left at home for a while. But I can say for certain that the Mayor and the budget committee are ultimately responsible for the decisions they have made. As an employee, the Budget Administrator is only responsible to make sure he passes on correct information to the Mayor and committee for them to do their work.

So it goes to Richard England. Either he said something or he didn't - there's no "might have" in this case. If he didn't; then he should find himself at the back of the unemployment line. If he did; then he needs to explain who knew and when. This isn't just a few buddies squabbling over some beer money. This is public financing and it directly impacts the amount of tax every single person in Hoboken will pay this quarter - and next year.

Oh, and by the way - how difficult is it to remember to pay the gas bill? When it rains, it pours.