But others said budget mistakes are almost inevitable.
"It's a very bizarre history, this whole thing,"Councillor William H. Walsh said yesterday. "I don't think it's as clear an overpayment as it would seem."
Walsh said that at one point in the mid-1980s, the mayor received three separate school salaries.
"If it's an error, it's really an error of confusion," he said.
Vellucci also said he was willing to give Reeves the benefit of the doubt.
Advertisement
"Lessons are learned by mistakes," former Mayor Vellucci said.
City officials insisted that the overlap of both budgets will be corrected.
"It must be rectified," Duehay said. "I'm sure by the time the next budget comes up, [the stipend] will no longer be in there.