How not to close a budget deficit, in the view of Rockland County legislator Edwin Day: Borrow money, and slap the county”™s homeowners with a property tax assessment. Day is one of four legislators who voted against the 2012 budget.
“From 2008 to 2011, our deficit rose from $12 million to somewhere between $60-80 million,” said Day, who says the county was warned by auditors in 2009 that the financial crisis would deepen and that immediate action had to be taken.
Closing the budget gap by borrowing and by giving real property owners a one-time assessment on top of the two percent tax cap put an undue hardship on homeowners and businesses, “Yet we did not hear one word about creating efficiencies,” said Day, a former New York City police officer.
Day made his remarks on March 15, at the Rockland Business Association”™s luncheon at Casa Mia in Blauvelt.
In his State of the County address on March 6, Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef, who likened the current economic crisis to the Great Depression after giving his original budget to the Legislature, expressed disappointment that lawmakers hit property owners with a one-time assessment, effectively raising property taxes 30 percent, rather than sticking to the 2 percent cap, which would have raised property taxes approximately $175. The county”™s 2012-2013 approved budget is $701.8 million.
At the luncheon, Day asked the Rockland Business Association to come up with ways to bring more business into the county. In addition, he commended Legislator Harriet Cornell for agreeing to bring in a private consulting firm to determine the fate of the county”™s nursing home.
“Borrowing $62 million does nothing but throw water into a bucket full of holes…the $18 million hole we already had got rolled into the deficit borrowing,” said Day. “The fight is on.”
Rockland”™s bond rating was cut from A1 to A3 by Moody”™s, and it is still awaiting approval from Albany to raise its sales tax, making borrowing money to bridge the gap even more vexing to Day.
He said legislators had been misled about the financial condition of the Summit Park nursing home. “We were told in 2010 it was earning $2 million to $3 million a year. It appears this was not the case.” He said Summit Park has been a major contributor to the deficit.
Day proposed the county seriously consider bowing out of the MTA system to save up to $60 million that it is currently paying for limited service. He called for a zero-based budget, one in which each expenditure must be justified, for towns to get a bigger share of the sales tax and for the county to take a look at its own hiring practices. Day said higher-paying jobs were left untouched during layoffs and new, high-paying positions were being added “even though the county is on the precipice.”
Legislator Andy Stewart said he admired Day but felt his comment on the county sales tax needed clarification. “Towns are getting six percent of what is collected, and people should be glad some of the sales taxes are going to the towns. The towns are not the problem, the county is the problem.”
Rockland Business Association President Al Samuels said the chamber will hold a special economic development meeting at Rockland Community College on Thursday, March 29 from 8:00-10:00pm at the Ellipse. “Rockland received a little more than $1 million in the 2011 round of Empire State Development money. There is another $200 million available — we need a bigger slice of the pie.”
