Treasurer says Panchyshyn should repay Monticello

By TOM RUE
MONTICELLO - Former mayor Louis Harmin appeared before the Monticello board of trustees on September 6 for the first time since his appointment as treasurer, and called on acting village manager George Panchyshyn to return $11,811.21 paid to him last month for 59 days in unused vacation time.

Panchyshyn claimed his schedule has not allowed him to take time off. Director of public works (DPW), Panchyshyn assumed the position of acting village manager in June with the promise he would take no added pay or benefits for doing so.

Multiple roles

In addition to being paid $59,000 per year as DPW director, Panchyshyn heads the Conservative Party of Sullivan County. He is expected to retire within a year. He will lose the title of village manager as soon as a replacement for former manager Bill Cummings is hired by the village board.

Manager candidates are being interviewed but no decision has been made, according to mayor Robert Friedland.

Harmin is filling in as treasurer for free and is not on the village payroll. He served two terms as mayor in the 1980s and said he agreed to hold the post only until former treasurer Robin Seward becomes a citizen and can lawfully resume the function.

Counting fringe benefits, Harmin calculated the payout cost to taxpayers at $13,000 which was unbudgeted in 1995.

"Of that $11,000, I think I got $5,000," Panchyshyn said, claiming he paid the balance in taxes. Panchyshyn does not pay village taxes -- which are among the highest in the region.

Harmin is business professor at Sullivan County Community College. He admitted erring when he signed Panchyshyn's check.

He said he consulted with officials at the NYS Comptroller's Office and was told the payment was unlawful. "I believe the money should be returned to the treasury until such time as a decision can be made," said Harmin.

Harmin noted he asked for a copy of Opinion of the State Comptroller No. 89-1 to be mailed from Albany, which he promised to provide to village attorney Martin Miller for review. The document was downloaded by modem by The River Reporter, from the Comptroller's Office, the morning after Harmin spoke.

Miller declined to comment until he had time to review the opinion. Panchyshyn said Harmin caught him off guard, and he had not seen it either.

A municipality "may grant to its officers and employees only those fringe benefits which are authorized by statute, either expressly or by necessary implication, or which are provided for in a collective bargaining agreement," the opinion states.

Panchyshyn's contract, obtained under the Freedom of Information Law, does not allow payouts for unused vacation time, but says: "Vacation periods shall be taken each year. Employees who do not request a vacation period prior to the end of the ninth month following the year in which the vacation was earned shall be scheduled for a vacation by the Employer."

The payout was voted on and approved by the village board.

Panchyshyn claimed former managers have each told him to "hold off" when he requested vacation.

Hunting trip planned

But he said he now has time to take vacation time which he recently accrued. He said he would hunt caribou in the Arctic Circle with some other village employees this month. In addition to the 59 days for which he received the disputed payment, Panchyshyn asserted he now has five weeks accrued.

Asked for a response to Harmin's statement Panchyshyn replied, "I have a real personal response which I'd rather save until the right time."

Accusing Harmin of faulting the payoff for personal reasons, Panchyshyn said he has "proof" of some wrongdoing by Harmin. He declined to state what the alleged misdeeds were, stating he would wait until after retiring to make the revelations in order to protect his pension.