Woodstock’s town board voted to adopt a $9.78-million budget for 2025 despite protests from councilmembers Bennet Ratcliff and Maria-Elena Conte, who did not participate in person. With only one member of the public, John Ludwig, asking questions at a November 5 public hearing, town supervisor Bill McKenna moved approval of the spending plan. Councilmember Laura Ricci seconded the motion. McKenna, Ricci and Anula Courtis voted in favor.
Ratcliff, who was participating via Zoom videoconferencing, called for a discussion of the budget — apparently missing the fact it had just passed.
McKenna humored him and allowed discussion.
“We just had the vote, Bennet. You should be here, where we can hear you properly,” McKenna said.
“The Zoom use is a proper use for somebody, Bill,” Ratcliff replied.
“Actually, that’s not entirely true, since you bring it up, Bennet, because our local law says that you can do it for health reasons. Are either one of you sick?” McKenna asked.
“I’m not feeling well, Bill,” Ratcliff said.
“You look a little flu-ish,” McKenna responded. “So, what would you like to discuss?”
“The budget lacks any transparency whatsoever,” Ratcliff said. “There’s no money that’s being set aside for the mounting legal bills that we’re incurring and for the money that we’ll have to pay in settlements or fines, like the Holsapple case that just came up. I think that this is a complete charade that the revenues go up and the taxes go up. I’m voting no on this budget, although the vote has already taken place, another lack of transparency on your part.”
Ratcliff was referring to an Ulster County Supreme Court’s tossing of a ZBA decision to deny Robert Holsapple’s application for a variance to continue businesses that are a non-conforming use.
“We were very transparent,” McKenna said. “We’re here in public, Bennet, and we’ll register your no.”
Conte, also participating via Zoom, said she was voting no because the budget didn’t include funding for source tracing for the town water and promised funding for arts non-profits.
The town adopted a local law in 2022 allowing videoconferencing to continue after Covid-era restrictions had lapsed. Members of the town board, commissions and committees can participate remotely provided enough members are present for a quorum. Videoconferencing is reserved for health risks, disability, illness or caregiving responsibilities.
During the meeting, Ratcliff said he didn’t feel well. The next day, in an email, he said he was grieving the loss of his aunt. “I personally told him [McKenna] this at an earlier meeting,” he said. “My family and I have and continue to deal with grief. Prolonged grief disorder is a dangerous and recognized illness that has been diagnosed in my family members for years. The accompanying depression and mental illnesses have been crippling to members of my family.”
Judging from McKenna’s past behavior, Ratcliff said he did not expect the supervisor to respect him or the dead during this time of grief. “I hope that you will understand and view his hostilities towards me as just another abuse in his long-running abuses of others,” he said.
Conte, in an email, said she too has been dealing with personal and medical issues.
“But again, I don’t expect Mr. McKenna to understand or at the very least be compassionate,” she wrote.
McKenna said neither Ratcliff nor Conte showed up for the October budget presentation. Both missed the budget hearings and meetings with department heads. They also failed to pick up their copies of the budget for more than two weeks, he said.
“They couldn’t even be present in person for the public hearing on the budget. Only after the vote was taken did Bennet want to discuss anything, and then, only to grandstand,” he charged.
McKenna said Ratcliff told him about his aunt at the October 22 meeting of the town board.
That didn’t explain his absence from the earlier meetings, said McKenna. “He could have at any point given his colleagues a heads-up that he wouldn’t be at the meeting in person. He didn’t do that, either.”
Ratcliff has missed at least six meetings this year, and Conte has missed many more, McKenna noted.
“There was an attempt to coordinate schedules to participate with department heads for the budget, but again we were shut out,” Conte said.
The combined general, highway, lighting, sewer and water levy is $7.280 million, up 2.49 percent. The levy is $147,624 below the state cap of $7.427 million.
Ludwig questioned what he sees is a trend of rising surpluses, which have increased 95 percent in five years. In 2018, it was around a million, and in 2023 it was 1.976, He suggested more of the surplus be used to offset taxes.
“What I would explain with this increase is, if you look, the increase really took off greatly around the time of the pandemic,” McKenna said. “And what happened the first year, even into the second year, expenses were drastically reduced and revenues didn’t go down. Revenues actually increased, our sales-tax revenues increased, and people were buying houses in Woodstock. “So yes, the taxpayers did pay slightly more taxes than they needed to, but it kept us from having to bond on this project.”
He was referring to the renovation of the town offices.
“And ultimately it saved, I think, close to $500,000 if we had bonded over the life of that project. So, upside and downside.”
Join the family! 
