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YORKTOWN, N.Y. – Former Yorktown Comptroller Joan Goldberg has filed a petition against the Town Board to void its Sept. 26 resolution that declared she was not entitled to nearly $77,000 in unpaid vacation time.
Goldberg, who worked with the town from 1996 to 2012, says she was entitled to issue herself $76,959.63 for 181.5 days of unused vacation time she had saved up during her tenure. The amount comes to $42,957.56 after taxes and deductions.
According to the petition filed in New York State Supreme Court on Oct. 8, the board’s resolution declared that Goldberg’s actions constituted “a conversion of the Town’s funds because that conclusion was arbitrary and capricious.”
The resolution by the board followed a nearly three-hour long public work session in Town Hall. Following the work session, the board entered into a closed session. The board then re-opened the public session and passed the resolution.
The petition accuses Town Supervisor Michael Grace of “attempting to alter the authorized and long-standing policy and practice of the Town regarding payment to the Town Department heads of unused and accumulated vacation time.”
The petitions states that 15 other department heads were not challenged for similar actions regarding vacation time, and that the board’s actions are directly tied to Goldberg questioning on Sept. 11 the hiring of Lisa Grace, the supervisor’s wife, as a temporary worker in the tax office at Town Hall in August.
According to the petition, Goldberg’s “duties as Town Comptroller on occasion put her at odds with the current Town Supervisor, Michael J. Grace, most recently when she communicated with the Town’s Human Resource Department and the Town Board on Sept. 11 about the legality and propriety under the Town’s anti-nepotism law when the Town Supervisor’s wife was hired for a town job."
Goldberg is currently working for the Town of North Castle as town administrator. Yorktown must answer to the complaint within 20 days, according to the petition.
Comments (1)
Two things jump out at me while reading this article.
1st is that Ms. Goldberg wrote her own check. Who would have had an opportunity to "challenge" similar actions - I do not think any other department head can write their own check.
2nd is I question "long standing policy and practice" vs the letter of the law in Yorktown. Every job I have ever held has a cap on how much vacation time you can accrue. This payout is for an average of 11.3 days per year of service. I am not sure how much time a comptroller earns per year, but shame on the Supervisors BEFORE Mr. Grace who:
a) did not care enough about their employees to make sure they were able to take the time off and
b) put the town in such a precarious position to have to pay out almost $77,000 in one lump sum by NOT making sure this did not happen.
Whatever shenanigans have gone on before in relation to unused vacation time is sitting on the desks of past supervisors and possibly the person who wrote the checks - Ms. Goldberg. I am personally grateful that our current Supervisor, and at least three of our councilmen, cares more about the taxpayers of Yorktown then the previous office holders. As for Ms. Goldberg's insinuation that this is more personal than legal, a smoke screen is just that and it will usually clear when a fresh wind blows in. It is nice to see the fresh face of politics in Yorktown and hopefully the carer politicians and their cronies can see the writing on the wall and get out of dodge! If you are wondering how I would define this, just look at the town board vote - 4 (fresh faces) vs 1 (carer politician).
Thank you Mr. Grace, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Paganelli and Mr. Patel.
Ed Lachterman - Yorktown Taxpayer.