<!--Rick Forgione--><table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Rick Forgione</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:rick.forgione@niagara-gazette.com">rick.forgione@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>
The Town of Niagara’s $7.6 million budget for next year was passed Tuesday, but not without some fireworks between two political adversaries.
Supervisor Steven Richards voted against the spending plan and publicly accused board member Robert Clark of making “unethical and downright mistruths” related to the absence of money in the budget to improve a neglected park in the Belden Center neighborhood.
Richards’ comments stemmed from a Sept. 15 board meeting during which several Belden Center Block Club members criticized him and the board about the park’s condition. On Tuesday, Richards accused Clark of encouraging the residents to speak out while hosting a block club meeting at his house three days earlier.
Further, Richards said Clark had an opportunity to lobby for park improvements during a Sept. 9 special budget meeting that discussed spending in the town’s recreation department. Instead, he kept silent about Belden Center’s needs, according to Richards.
“You chose to withhold that information from your neighbors, and rally them to come to the Sept. 15 town board meeting to blast me and the rest of the town board, knowing full well you never ever mentioned anything about the Belden Center park at the recreation committee meeting,” Richards said to Clark. “Now these other gentlemen up here can choose to allow you to get away with these unethical and downright mistruths that you tell, but not me.”
Richards later added, “maybe the town board should write a letter to the residents of Belden Center advising them how you’re speaking out of both sides of your mouth.”
Clark, who lives in Belden Center and helped form the block club, said he only suggested members speak to the board about park improvements since the budget process was going on.
“I didn’t ask anybody to come here and attack anybody,” Clark said after Tuesday’s meeting. “All the block club wanted to do is come in and start a dialogue.”
To explain his silence on the park’s needs during the earlier recreation committee meeting, Clark said he arrived late and wasn’t sure at that point what the residents’ specific concerns were for the park. He complained Richards’ remarks were politically motivated to discredit him in his own neighborhood. The two have sparred politically on numerous occasions since Clark was elected three years ago.
“This is what you get for trying to help your community,” Clark said. “If you’re not on the same page, everything gets turned around.”
Ironically, Clark praised Richards prior to the supervisor’s verbal attack for doing an “outstanding job” putting the 2010 budget together.
Richards said he was voting against a town budget for the first time in his tenure because “no money has been allotted to the Belden Center area, either for park improvements or road repairs.”
He ended his comments by blasting Clark over campaigning on a health care reform platform but being the only current town board member accepting town health benefits paid for by taxpayers. He challenged Clark to give up his $14,293 worth of annual health benefits and instead support a resolution to put that money toward fixing the park and roads in Belden Center.
Clark, who works as a hospital security officer, said he will likely give in to Richards’ challenge and turn down his benefit package in the future. He has a wife and two children who are currently on his insurance plan.
As for the budget, the approved spending plan will reduce overall spending by $366,154 next year, resulting in a slight reduction in the tax rate of 5 cents per $1,000 of assessed home valuation.
Board members spent the last two months trimming down a $7.7 million budget initially presented by Richards that reflected “wish lists” from all department heads. About $42,800 has been cut from that draft. Prior to laying into Clark, Richards applauded the board for approving a budget that didn’t raise taxes or cut services in a tough fiscal year.
Though he voted yes, board member Charles Teixeira hinted the budget still contains some fat.
“There’s some discrepancies in the budget where I think we could’ve went farther,” Teixeira said. “But you can’t cut it too tight. I think it’s a fair budget for this year without hurting anybody.”
Budget facts
The Town of Niagara’s approved $7.6 million budget for 2010 represents a spending decrease of $366,154 from this year and slightly reduces the tax rate by 5 cents per $1,000 of assessed home valuation.
