The Monroe County Legislature Thursday night overrode two budget vetoes by County Executive Adam Bello, restoring two amended budget items that Bello has stricken from the $1.2 billion budget approved on Tuesday.
Bello vetoed two last minute additions on Thursday afternoon: a $2.5 million legislative discretionary fund that legislators could use to fund projects in their districts, and a measure setting job and pay levels for the Monroe County Board of Elections. Critics including Bello and some of the legislature’s Democratic minority called the discretionary fund a “slush fund” to be used for favored legislators to boost their chances of re-election. They also said the Board of Elections measure was intended to reverse the reorganization put in place by Commissioner Jackie Ortiz. Bello vetoed both amendments, calling them bad government.
But the legislature’s Black and Asian Democratic Caucus spoke passionately in favor of the Board of Elections change, saying the reorganization was racist because it fired two black staff members in order to give raises to the remaining staffers. They sided with Republicans in overriding that veto. The same caucus also joined with the Republicans to restore the discretionary fund to the budget. They said it was negotiated with the county executive directly in return for their pledge to give his budget a unanimous vote, which it then received.