Counties in the Hudson Valley are demonstrating awareness the local economy is stalled as they adopt stringent 2011 budgets. Yet, signs indicate the harder decisions are yet to come.
As part of its roughly $400 million 2011 budget, Dutchess County is making a structural change in county government by consolidating nine departments down to four.
“Under this reform plan departments with similar missions will be able to merge activities, functions and services,” County Executive William Steinhaus said.
The Office for the Aging, the Veterans Services Agency and the Youth Bureau will be consolidated into one department to be known as the Department of Services for Aging, Veterans and Youth, with separate divisions focusing on the specific needs of those groups.
The Department of Consumer Affairs/Weights and Measures is becoming part of the Department of Health as a separate Weights & Measures Division. The Department of Real Property Tax will be consolidated and realigned under the Department of Finance.
The Department of Risk Management is being consolidated within the Department of Personnel, which will be retitled the Department of Human Resources.
“In 2011, we will have fewer managers and fewer departments, allowing us to right-size our work force and reduce payroll costs to taxpayers,” Steinhaus said. “These steps are necessary for us to meet our fiscal challenges and still have an ability to deliver critical services to our residents.”
There will be no property tax increase for Ulster residents in 2011 as the county lawmakers approved a $351 million budget, which includes six employee layoffs, and position reductions including early retirement and attrition measures totaling 75 jobs.
County Executive Michael Hein, a Democrat, said the Republican-controlled county Legislature checked his figures and approved a budget in a cooperative and nonpartisan way. “The legislature brought in an independent auditing firm to be able to evaluate this and I am extremely proud that they determined that this was a very responsible spending plan,” Hein said.
Despite the successful completion of the 2011 process, Hein said Ulster and all the counties will face difficult challenges as the state prepares for 2011 with a $10 billion deficit.
The 2011 Operating Budget for Orange County of $716 million is an increase of 1.65 percent over the previous year. The new budget includes additional health care, pension and state mandates. County Executive Edward Diana said that without those burdens, he could have cut county spending in 2010 by more than $7 million. He said the budget eliminated 130 positions from the budget.
But he warned current spending trends cannot be maintained. He said the total cost of social services programs in Orange County are about $220 million dollars or 31 percent of the gross budget. County funds for DSS in 2010 are almost exactly $100 million while the total amount of the property tax is $108.5 million.
“We all understand that we have a duty to protect those most vulnerable and in need of government assistance,” said Diana. “Yet, this responsibility strains every other facet of our budget because of its enormity, and this challenge gets harder and harder to meet each year. I simply do not see how we can sustain these programs in the future the way they are presently configured.”
Putnam County adopted a budget for 2011 of $135.7 million and contains no tax increase.
County Executive Robert J. Bondi said this was accomplished through reducing the county work force by 10 percent, the equivalent of 75 full-time positions, through attrition and early retirement.
Rockland County will have 180 fewer employees who are accepting early retirement as part of the $710 million 2011 budget, that includes a 2 percent property tax increase and a proposal by the county executive to sell the county nursing home and hospital to a public benefit corporation in an effort to fill an $18 million budget gap.
County Legislator Edwin Day voted against the budget and requested the state comptroller audit county finances.
Sullivan County adopted an $191 million spending plan, which includes a wage freeze for county workers who last year negotiated a two-year contract and protested the freeze. The budget has no tax increase, no layoffs and uses money from the county reserve funds.
