first discussion on an aspect of the budget to take place on October 15 at 4 PM regarding new mandate imposed by NYS on courts/police
The proposed 2020 budget will be released to the Town Board and community by the end of October. In order to provide you with a better appreciation of the complexities of the budget I thought I would (between now and the end of the month) provide you with some info on some of the issues impacting budget decisions. One of the issues impacting the budget is the unfunded mandates that the state imposes on local governments. At times NYS requires local governments to take actions but they don't fund the implementation of the mandates so there are extra costs. On October 15th at 4 PM the Police Chief, Brian Ryan, and Court Admnistrator Annu Jacob will discuss a new state mandate relating to their department. They will review the new mandate and discuss their implementation needs. The Town Board and I will then decide what additional support we must provide them with so we can be in compliance with the mandate. The courts have already indicated that additional staff will be needed.
Effective January 1, 2020, the police department has to comply with the new state law regarding “Discovery” , CPL section 245.00. This new law presents challenges with respect to preparing all evidence and pertinent reports, documents, bodycam video, etc., for court within a mandated (15) day window, post arraignment of a defendant. The police department has sought opinions of fellow chief’s from several police agencies on this matter. The Police department are in the planning stages of creating a “Compliance Unit” within the department in order to meet the anticipated volume of cases to be “court ready” within the proscribed timeline under the statute. Annu Jacob, Court administrator, indicated that more staffing at the courts will be necessary to comply with this new mandate.
Our Town Board work sessions are televised, streamed live and archived on the internet.
PAUL FEINER