Nicholas Buonanno
The Record
WATERVLIET, N.Y. — Like many other municipalities, the coronavirus pandemic is impacting finances in the city of Watervliet, and city officials are left making tough budgetary decisions.
On Monday, City General Manager Joe LaCivita informed Police Chief Anthony Geraci that the city has to make changes to his position.
On Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Charles Patricelli clarified what was said in an interview earlier Tuesday morning, by stating he is considering “the cut” as a furlough.
“I took it that this is more of a furlough, it’s not anything permanent that we’re doing,” Patricelli said on Tuesday afternoon. “This is something that we have to decide at a later date. The cut, I just considered it that this is a cut that we are making, but I really consider it as a furlough.”
“The furloughing component of this needs to be clarified a little more,” LaCivita said on Tuesday afternoon. “We’re looking at laying off the police chief for the not to exceed time of 90 days.
“Then at that point and time, there will be an evaluation of the fiscal standing of the municipality to make a further determination.”
“That’s the path we’re taking, that’s the path that the mayor and I now have agreed on going forward,” LaCivita added.
On July 25, 2019, Geraci became the first chief in the city’s history to be appointed from outside the agency. Geraci was appointed under former Mayor Michael Manning’s administration while Patricelli was a city councilman.
The mayor said due to the pandemic, the city is looking at a roughly $1.2 million deficit or more. Patricelli said the loss of sales tax revenue is expected to be about $800,000 alone.
“The mayor and I went through all the potential changes, reorganizations, and everything within the city,” LaCivita said. “And when you started looking specifically at the police department and you look at the least tenured employee and the cost-savings there and how that was going forward.
“It came up to a number that would actually compromise the number of bodies that compromise both public safety for the residents and for our patrolmen that are on the day-to-day.”
The city general manager noted that the other option for the police department would have been to reduce officers on patrol by three members.
LaCivita said Geraci was not working under a contract since they have been working on that since he started last year. Patricelli said the chief’s salary is $96,000.
“This was purely a decision that had to go forward on to what was best for the municipality and that was keeping policemen on patrol,” LaCivita said.
“It’s not a personnel issue, it’s just a budget issue, it’s not even simple math, it’s horrible math,” Patricelli said.
“[Geraci] has done wonderful things here for the city and it will be a tough position to fill in the future or how we’re going to handle it,” Patricelli added.
City officials did not disclose other potential changes within the city due to the deficit.
Geraci has been in law enforcement since 1998 when he started as a cadet and then joined the New York Police Department in 1999. In 2003, Geraci transferred to the Albany Police Department and was most recently a lieutenant there, before he left Albany for the chief position in Watervliet.
“I would never want to see three people lose their jobs, especially with young families during this global pandemic, during this financial crisis,” Geraci told WRGB. “If I was forced to face the tough decision, obviously it would be me before three members of the department.”
Even if the alternative was to cut just one officer instead of the chief’s position, his recommendation would be the same, he said.
“If I was posed with that question – me or someone else – you know I would definitely step aside,” Chief Geraci told WNYT. “Not that I want to turn my back on the city or the department but I think you have to make courageous decisions during times of crisis.”