Board approves budget
After a marathon negotiating session, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino and the county Board of Legislators emerged on Dec. 9 to announce the board had approved a 2012 County Budget that would avert most layoffs and that wouldn”™t raise the property tax levy.
Bleary-eyed from lack of sleep but seemingly relieved to reach a consensus on most areas of contention, Astorino applauded the board for its resolve and for reaching a bipartisan agreement.
“I commend the board”™s leadership ”“ Democrats and Republicans ”“ for their willingness to find common ground on behalf of the people of Westchester County,” Astorino said. “This is not a perfect budget, but it is a spending plan that protects taxpayers while preserving essential services.”
Prior to the final stretch of negotiations on Dec. 8, several people within the county government publicly and privately expressed concerns that the back-and-forth between the legislators and Astorino would mirror last year”™s drawn-out process.
Those fears turned out to be mostly unfounded: While Astorino said there will likely be some line-item vetoes of this year”™s budget, he and the legislators present at the announcement were singing an altogether different tune than a year ago.
The $1.698 billion budget, which was approved by a vote of 16 to 1, restored funding to several programs that had been trimmed down under Astorino”™s proposed budget, in addition to 187 of the roughly 210 jobs that Astorino had warned would be cut if the unions that represent county government employees did not accept concessions on health care costs.
Among the items that will be funded ”“ pending any vetoes by Astorino and the final adoption of the budget by the Board of Legislators ”“ are infrastructure and flood mitigation projects, the six county-run nature centers, three neighborhood health centers, the Cornell Cooperative Extension, ArtsWestchester, Youth in Education and Community Capital Resources, a not-for-profit organization that provides small business loans to Westchester residents.
To accomplish the additions, the Board of Legislators reduced spending in several areas, most notably in the Department of Social Services, where funding was cut by $5.1 million.
The elephant in the room continued to be the issue of health care contributions: throughout the budget process, Astorino fought with the public employee unions in hopes of convincing the county”™s unionized employees to accept a portion of their health care costs, but as of Dec. 9 no agreement had been reached.
“Had the unions agreed to pay a portion of their health care ”“ at the same level as state unions have already agreed to ”“ $19 million could have been saved in 2012 alone, which could have been applied to restoring services, and avoiding layoffs,” Astorino said. “Until the health care issue is resolved, layoffs will be a part of every year”™s budget. That is not in anyone”™s interest.”
Astorino and those board members present at the Dec. 9 announcement also pointed to unfunded state mandates as a major issue that remains unresolved. Legislator William Ryan, D-White Plains, called mandates the “biggest risk to our financial stability” and said Westchester taxpayers would suffer as long as they go unaddressed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State legislature.
Early bond payment questioned
On Nov. 18, a $93 million bond payment by Westchester County to the New York state pension system was authorized by County Executive Rob Astorino, saving the county an extra $4.75 million that would have been due if the bond was repaid by the normal deadline of Feb. 1, 2012.
However, the County Board of Legislators said that had the payment been made on Dec. 15 ”“ the pre-payment deadline imposed by the state Comptroller”™s office ”“ the county still would have saved the $4.75 million and would have also earned an additional $31,000 in interest in the process.
“Thirty-one thousand dollars went up in smoke because they (the Astorino administration) wanted to make a political point,” said Thomas Staudter, spokesman for the board”™s Democratic majority. “He made budget transfers that were not approved by the Board of Legislators and the appropriation itself wasn”™t approved by the board ”“ a violation of the County Charter.”
Astorino spokesman Ned McCormack responded, saying that the primary concern of the county was getting the $4.75 million discount by meeting the pre-payment deadline, while avoiding having the $93 million payment becoming entangled in the 2012 budget negotiations.
“Once we had the payment in full, we said ”˜Let”™s clear the books, let”™s take care of it and let”™s pay the bill and be done with it and take advantage of the $4.75 million.”
