Troy’s City Council has given the green light on the mayor’s choice of a new comptroller.
After being in the role for about a month, Jack Krokos was confirmed Thursday by the Republican-led council as comptroller. The appointment by Republican Mayor Carmella Mantello came in January — nearly six months after Mantello’s last hire, Dylan Spring, left under pressure to deliver quarterly reports.
Krokos was questioned by the council for nearly an hour before the vote. The former Republican town councilman in Sand Lake and senior portfolio manager at the Bank of Greene County told the council he has no direct municipal accounting experience, but he is leaning on BST Co., the outside accounting firm hired by the city.
“I can't step in here from day one and make sure everything is up to up to speed,” Krokos said. “But once we get to a point where we're not fighting the current in terms of just going and fixing things of the past, journal entries, things of that nature, absolutely, that's my goal is to make sure that there's, you know, full transparency, once we get up, up to speed, that I can provide quarterly statements to council members to this, you know, city of Troy residents that way. You know, there's full transparency of the numbers that we're looking at.”
Krokos says as he adjusts to the role, he plans to have an open-door policy to ensure accounting is done correctly and uniformly. Timely and accurate bookkeeping has been an ongoing challenge for the city in recent months and a point of contention among city leaders.
He says his goal is to strengthen oversight and ensure sound decisions are made for long-term growth and immediate needs. Krokos told the council he is committed to delivering on-time quarterly financial reports.
Aaron Vera, of District 4, voted against Krokos. Speaking with WAMC, the Democrat says he thinks Krokos’ lack of municipal experience could spell trouble for the city.
“After reviewing his resume and listening to his responses at the confirmation hearing I just felt that he lacks the experience for the role. I think that was clear in a few of the statements he made,” Vera said. “He basically came out and said he lacks the experience in that role and was hoping to get that from BST Co. Now, unfortunately, we spent a lot of money on that consultant and while I’m sure Jack [Krokos] is a fantastic individual and I’m sure he will excel at this role, I have no doubt of that, I just don’t think the city is in the position where we want someone learning on the job for this.”
Krokos says he expects to get accounting in order by the end of the year and does not foresee a need for BST Co. in 2026. Mantello’s administration did not respond when asked how much the city has paid BST Co. since being hired in October.
Before that, the city hired ProNexus, which submitted incorrect reports to the state. The city spent more than $200,000 on its services.
The city’s current accounting system relies on KVS software. Mantello says the antiquated system made potential candidates for the role shy away. Krokos says as the city works to implement its new system, Tyler Technologies, he sees other updates that can be made to keep the city organized.
“There's a lot of paper documents as well that I feel like, you know, we can easily scan. We have the printers, we have the scanners that we can scan into our system and have them access there,” Krokos said.
Council President Sue Steele questioned Krokos’ salary, $125,000. Last year, the council approved a salary range between $125,000 and $150,000. However, the budget has an outdated salary line. Steele, a Democrat, questioned where the funding would come from; Krokos answered a solution would be found. Mantello says a budget transfer will be made.
A 2023 financial audit was supposed to be submitted to accountants by the end of 2024. But Mayor Mantello says the audit will be submitted by the council’s next finance meeting on February 20. Mantello says the 2024 Annual Financial Report will be available by May. 2023’s report was not filed on time after being pulled back by the administration when another earlier comptroller failed to complete data entries.
