Mayor Harry Tutunjian and City Comptroller Deborah Witkowski said Tuesday that they would not certify the proposed 2009 city budget if an amendment moving more than $500,000 from various departments into a contingency fund was included in it.

The mayor and the comptroller believed the council didn't quite know what they were doing when they moved the funds because, according to them, the transfer of some of the money goes against fiscal law.

Other changes could jeopardize contracts the city has with independent auditors since Witkowski normally encumbers money for that purpose in a purchase order in January, for an amount higher than she has been left with after the council transfer, just to get on the auditor's schedule by mid-summer.

Council President Clement Campana, D-At Large, said that the council had not yet decided whether to override the mayor's veto of the amendment but the council still needed to provide more fiscal oversight on how the city spends its money.

Councilman Bill Dunne, D-District 4, said that the council had looked over the budget lines for unused funds before making their changes and could have moved a lot more money if they had wanted to be malicious.

The matter could soon end up in the hands of the state Comptroller since no one knows what will happen if the mayor and comptroller do not certify the city's budget.

Read more about this here on The Record's Web site.