TROY – The $2.9 million hole in Troy's 2018 budget may again put Troy's finances under state control, the state Comptroller’s Office warned city officials on Friday.

In October, the state told the city that if a new trash fee - included in Mayor Patrick Madden's $73.6 million spending proposal - was not approved by the City Council, or if budget changes were not made, the city faced an unbalanced budget.

“The Council did not make the necessary modifications to the City Code and has not made any modifications to the budget,” the comptroller's Friday letter states. “Therefore the City risks triggering the re-imposition of the emergency period under the City of Troy Supervisory Act."

That means the Troy Municipal Assistance Corp. board could move into City Hall to take over control of city finances, reviewing all spending and the budget. The state bailed out the city in a 1990s budget crisis by issuing bonds to solve its budget problems. The city is still paying off $24.66 million in TMAC debt.

“This is another self-inflicted wound,” Madden, a Democrat, said. “It’s really unfortunate that we’ve gotten to this point.”

The Republican-controlled City Council failed to meet its responsibilities under the city charter to pass a balanced budget, Madden said. “There wasn’t a single suggestion made, not even a bad suggestion.”

Without the City Council taking action on the budget by Dec. 1, the mayor’s proposed budget took effect. The Council approved issuing the tax warrants to collect property taxes and to allocate the funds. But this means the city will only have enough money to pay for its operations until sometime in the fourth quarter – perhaps mid-November 2018.

The mayor’s budget had a $190 tipping fee per residential unit to replace the recycling fee of $29. The budget also raised the city property tax rate by 16 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation to $13.99 per $1,000 in 2018. The tax rate went into effect but the trash fee didn’t as the council refused to adopt it.

Council President Carmella Mantello casts the blame toward Madden.

“The Mayor had a duty and obligation once it became clear that his proposed garbage fee was illegal and would put an undue burden on Troy taxpayers," says a letter she wrote to the state Comptroller's Office responding to the warning. "The Mayor should have amended his original budget to reflect the phantom revenues that he had proposed.”

In the past, the council modified the mayor’s proposed budget then worked with the mayor on changes to the budget expenses and revenues. This didn’t happened this year.

Madden said he is trying to resolve the crisis before the new Democratic-controlled council takes office Jan. 1. Right now, he said, the proposed trash fee would be $150. He said he doesn’t plan to back away from the fee as it advances policy to increase recycling and cut the city’s trash disposal fees long-term.