The City of Newburgh held its public hearing on the 2026 proposed budget created by City Manager Todd Venning and made available to the public on October 15th. Seventeen community members took to the microphone to speak about the City Manager’s proposed budget, most of them in opposition to the new executive positions added to the budget.

 

Three new executive positions were highlighted for funding in the budget, those being a Deputy City Manager, a Police Commissioner, and a Fire Commissioner. The police and fire commissioner positions already exist within the city code, though the fire commissioner position was created recently, in 2023. Both positions are currently vacant, as the most recent Newburgh Police Commissioner retired in 2024. The Deputy City Manager position would replace the current Chief of Staff position held by Mike Neppl.

 

The first person to speak was former Fire Chief Francis J. Spinelli, followed by four other speakers who were current members of the fire department. Spinelli asked for the funding that would be used to pay for the Fire Commissioner’s position to instead “Be reallocated to fund a deputy fire chief position, and this commissioner position be permanently removed from the fire department budget. This adjustment would allow the fire department to promote an internal candidate to Deputy Chief, backfill that firefighter position, and move the current assistant chief into the long requested training position.”

 

During the city’s budget work sessions Spinelli made a nearly identical request with regards to the funding for the Fire Commissioner, which at that time was $163,388. He also asked for 10 additional firefighters as well as a part time fire dispatcher. Only the part time dispatcher was included in the City Manager’s budget.

 

Jonathan Jacobson, New York State Assemblyman also came to the meeting, and said he was “dismayed to find that there’s approximately $400,000 …for two spots we really don’t need.”

 

Newburgh resident Sue Sullivan said “The disconnect is striking. The budget includes no additions to public safety or public works, departments that directly serve and protect residents every day…We need more boots on the ground. Taxpayers, who are business owners, homeowners, and renters, deserve better services.”

 

Mixed into the budget comments was overall discontent with the city government. Multiple speakers complained about the power given to the City Manager, including Sullivan, who said “It’s disturbing that there continues to be a consolidation of power under the executive, versus the department directors charged with managing their departments” and Newburgh resident Jo Epstein, who said “I add my voice to those of the others who express opposition to the extent of the autonomous decision making capability that lies within the unelected position of City Manager.” Other speakers criticized a perceived lack of transparency within the city government.

 

This discontent was not isolated to those speaking. City Council members Robert Sklarz, Giselle Martinez, and Ramona Monteverde sat out the executive session before the main council meeting in protest. 

 

Council members  Martinez, Robert McLymore, Monteverde, Sklarz, and Patty Sofokles indicated in the meeting that they would amend the budget to remove the commissioner positions and reallocate the funds to other purposes.

 

Martinez noted that the council had voted previously to not fund the Police and Fire Commissioner positions, saying “A couple of months ago we did bring this up, multiple times actually, on the council and a majority of the council had voted no on these positions, including myself, and my stance on it has not changed…What I am disappointed about is that the job was posted, despite having majority against.”