Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino announced on Dec. 13 that he had sent the Board of Legislators 27 vetoes totaling $10 million of the $1.689 billion budget that was passed on Dec. 9.
There were far fewer vetoes than last year when Astorino sent 247 such items back to the board. The vetoes addressed items that Astorino said he deemed as wasteful, harmful to the funding and operation of the county government or not in taxpayers”™ best interests.
“That the number of vetoes is much smaller than last year is indicative of the fact that the 2012 budget was forged with bipartisan support,” he said in a statement.
Astorino, extending an olive branch to the county”™s public employee unions, did not veto the 180-plus jobs that were restored by the Board of Legislators following an initial projection of 210 layoffs.
However, Astorino warned that without cooperation from the unions in the coming year, layoffs would become inevitable.
“The unions need to know that every month without health care contributions means more potential layoffs next year.”
The 27 vetoes addressed several areas, including the Board of Legislators”™ addition of $1.9 million to the budget in subsidies for three neighborhood health centers; the addition of $4.3 million in day-care subsidies; the addition of $243,000 to restore the Route 76 Bee-Line Bus service; the addition of $990,000 in funding for the Cornell Cooperative Extension and the addition of $378,000 to the Invest in Kids program.
Astorino spokesman Ned McCormack said that specific budgetary lines relating to each of the latter additions were vetoed, coming to a total of $10 million.
As of press time, it was not certain whether Astorino”™s vetoes would stand or whether the board would vote to override some or all of the vetoes. Several members of the board were called, but could not be reached for comment.
The budget must be finalized by Dec. 27.
