Mount Vernon Insider: News from Mount Vernon Mayor, Richard Thomas.

THE UNBONDED TRUTH: CITY COUNCIL CAN CORRECT THE COMPTROLLER (INSURANCE) CRISIS - BUT WON'T

Under New York law, anyone who drives a car needs insurance.

Some elected officials in New York are held to similar standards while piloting the ships of state. For example, Mount Vernon Comptroller Deborah Reynolds is required under state law and the City Charter to have bonded insurance, yet she doesn't.

She and her allies on the City Council have falsely stated that she doesn't need bonded insurance, so my office turned to our insurer for answers.

On May 1 my past warnings about the lack of insurance were confirmed.

The Chubb insurance company wrote to Mount Vernon stating that the City has no coverage under its policy for a $21 million lawsuit filed by the Mount Vernon City School District against Comptroller Reynolds. The school district has accused Comptroller Reynolds of failing to pay the school system at least $21 million in taxes her office has collected on the district's behalf.

The school district's lawsuit was filed on March 26 and it alleged that the district has received millions less in tax dollars in 2019 compared with previous years. The district has asked the court to order Comptroller Reynolds to turn over all taxes collected on its behalf, as well as financial records related to the collection of school taxes.

Essentially, taxpayers are not protected in this lawsuit, an avoidable risk if Comptroller Reynolds had obtained bonding.

The obligation of the City Council to require Comptroller Reynolds to obtain bonded insurance is very clear, yet they simply refuse to comply with the City Charter and vote to compel her to get the required coverage. Without it, taxpayers face picking up the full cost of any loss she causes - in this one example that's $21 million extra taxes!

At a City Council meeting a few weeks ago, our insurance agent was summoned to a meeting where he was duped into stating that Comptroller Reynolds is covered under the City's insurance policy.

This City Council meeting with our insurer was held after months of warnings by my office that Comptroller Reynolds is putting the City at risk through her actions. Instead of using the opportunity to protect the taxpayer and hold her accountable, they wasted time playing "poli-tricks" by misinforming Mount Vernon with false talk and false hope in their literal lies.

As Mount Vernon's deputy corporation counsel Brian Johnson explained last week: "The mayor has taken every step to work with the City Council and Comptroller, including meeting with members of the clergy, community leaders and every stakeholder in Mount Vernon to serve the citizens and residents. When necessary he went to court to overcome obstruction and repeatedly won. What else would you do to solve this problem?"

With the public's help, we can do more! That's why I'm calling on the public to urge local and state officials to take three immediate steps to remedy the risk to taxpayers.

The City Council should require Comptroller Reynolds to become bonded so that her office is insured against lawsuits alleging her misconduct or malfeasance.
The state Comptroller's Office should return to Mount Vernon to investigate the operations of Comptroller Reynolds' department.
Governor Andrew Cuomo should respectfully respond to a petition submitted to his office in October by my office seeking Comptroller Reynolds' removal because she is endangering city residents and blocking basic city services by failing to pay the city's bills in a timely manner.

We need the assistance of the state because there are vulnerabilities and exposures to our taxpayers, as well as our children. We need to make sure that education is not disrupted and we need to make sure that city services are also not jeopardized.

Last month Supreme Court Justice Susan Cacace ordered Comptroller Reynolds to give me full access to the City's financial records, including online banking records. As of today, I still don't have that access.

On behalf of the people, I've won court orders and got a letter explicitly stating that Comptroller Reynolds' possibly wrongful actions are not covered by our insurance.

It's time for the public to demand action from the Mount Vernon City Council and from higher authorities, NOW!