Despite a recent string of disagreements, Westchester County legislators and Astorino administration representatives said last week they still expect the board to act soon on $58 million in bonding resolutions submitted by the county executive.
The bonding approval requests from County Executive Rob Astorino, which have been sent to the county Board of Legislators on an ongoing basis since Jan. 1, include $26 million for 15 new capital projects, and roughly $32.3 million for capital projects Astorino says the board failed to act on last year.
Members of the board”™s Democratic majority shot back, pointing to more than $100 million in projects approved since 2010 that they contend Astorino has yet to sign off on. Democratic board members also disputed the legality of the county”™s Feb. 16 approval of renovations to the Yonkers Joint Wastewater Treatment Plant.
If approved, the projects could create as many as 550 construction jobs and would “address critical infrastructure needs that will protect the safety and well-being of our residents,” Astorino said in a statement.
Board Majority Leader Peter Harckham said the legislators would conduct all due diligence, adding that he expected the projects to be approved.
“My guess is most of them if not all of them should pass without too much of an issue,” Harckham said. “Our hope is that he”™ll start moving on the over $100 million in projects we”™ve already passed that he hasn”™t acted on.”
Those include measures approved by the board as far back as April 2010, such as capital improvements at the Westchester County Airport, water quality improvements and flood mitigation projects, the board majority said in a Feb. 15 statement.
Included among the new projects submitted by Astorino for board approval are infrastructure improvements to county buildings, roads and bridges in Tuckahoe, White Plains, Valhalla, Yonkers, New Rochelle, Harrison, Rye and Peekskill, among others.
Astorino spokeswoman Donna Greene said the county executive is optimistic that the bonding requests will be approved in short order.
“He continues to maintain these are all important projects for infrastructure and they also create jobs and they”™ve been vetted through the proper channels … so hopefully the board will act soon on them,” she said.
