Prosecutors investigate Saratoga Springs over on-call pay issues | News

Saratoga Springs Assistant District Attorney Anthony Izzo said the city was served a subpoena Friday for records in the matter. Izzo could not recall the details of the subpoena and noted that District Attorney David Harper was handling the matter.

Harper could not immediately be reached for comment.

The issue arises from a resolution passed in 2023 to provide on-call pay to deputy commissioners who are “responsible for responding to emergency calls and assigning subordinate leadership responsibilities.”

However, resident John Kaufmann raised concerns about pay earlier this year, claiming the resolution’s wording had been changed to state that deputy commissioners would receive on-call pay for responding to “emergencies and events” without this new wording being approved by the City Council had been approved.

The February 2023 resolution provided for a maximum annual on-call pay of $6,500 per deputy commissioner. Three deputy commissioners and the deputy mayor claimed on-call pay totaling about $17,300, according to reimbursement forms obtained by Kaufmann and posted on the Saratoga Today website.

Deputy Finance Commissioner Stacy Connors requested $4,136, Deputy Mayor Angela Rella requested $5,640, Deputy Finance Commissioner Heather Crocker requested a refund of $2,632 and Deputy Public Works Commissioner Joe O’Neill requested one Refund of $4,888.

Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi, who was made aware of the subpoena last week, said it referred only to documents and the allegation that the word “events” had been added to the document.

The subpoena requests all on-call forms, pay stubs and approval of on-call forms and records noting “the amount of on-call pay” for Crocker, Rella, Connors and O’Neill.

The subpoena also requests vacation and vacation requests for the three deputy commissioners and the deputy mayor, as well as “emails to or from Brook Vanbuskirk, Lisa Ribis and Stacy Connors discussing Section “E” of the “standby” salary resolution adopted by the Saratoga Springs City Council on September 2, 2023.”

The subpoena was signed by Saratoga County Judge James A. Murphy III on April 24 and was received by the city on April 25.

Sanghvi said the City Council voted on February 21, 2023 to fix a typo in the resolution. This version of the resolution included the word “events.” However, the word was not included in the original version of the resolution adopted on February 9, 2023.

She said the information was provided to Harper.

“It is an ongoing investigation,” Sanghvi said. “Seems like a fishing expedition to me, but of course we will provide all the information, but as far as I know the city council voted on it twice with the word in.”

According to an email from Sanghvi to other city council members, state police are investigating the matter.