In Marathon Midnight Session, Westchester County Legislators Pass 0% Tax Levy Increase

After a marathon day of negotiations, the Westchester County budget passed at about 2:00 am this morning. The vote was 16-1. Retiring Legislator Martin Rogowsky was the lone ‘no’ vote. The bipartisan effort delivers a 0% increase to the county tax levy. Republican and Democrat Legislative leaders will join County Executive Rob Astorino for a news conference at 11AM this morning.

Journal News has a good run down here.

The GOP and Democrats version of events follow:

Here is the GOP version of events:

Astorino And Legislators Find Common Ground On Key Budget Issues

County executive compliments Board of Legislators for its bipartisan efforts

County Executive Robert P. Astorino today applauded the Board of Legislators for passing a 2012 budget that incorporates his main goals of not raising the property tax levy and of protecting the county’s triple A credit ratings.

“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.”

The legislators worked into early Friday morning to fashion a final budget for 2012, following negotiations throughout Thursday with Astorino directly and key members of his administration.

Board Chairman Ken Jenkins said: “The good news for Westchester residents and business owners is that the Board of Legislators and County Executive Astorino share many of the same ideas and concerns regarding fiscal responsibility and maintaining important investments in infrastructure and social services. With bipartisan effort, we have worked together to create a 2012 County Budget that strengthens Westchester for the future.”

The board’s Democratic majority and Republican minority leaders also praised the bipartisan effort.

“A number of investments that Westchester County makes in public safety, public health and the environment actually save money for county taxpayers,” said Majority Leader Peter Harckham. “The $5 we spend in the Probation Department to monitor defendants each month saves Westchester County taxpayers over $300 that it costs to incarcerate individuals in our corrections system. Similar savings are found in eviction prevention programs that keep people in their homes instead of the County’s homeless shelters.”

Commented minority leader Jim Maisano: “The Republican caucus went into this year’s budget deliberations with the hope that we could produce a bipartisan budget that continued to provide the essential services that our residents expect without an increase to the tax levy. The process wasn’t perfect, but in the end we worked with our colleagues in the Democratic caucus along with the county executive to deliver a budget that I believe achieved those objectives. In this very difficult economic environment, it requires the cooperation and expertise of all our colleagues to find the savings and solutions that allowed this budget to pass.”

Astorino said it was likely that he would still veto some lines in the budget, but he expressed satisfaction with the overall spending plan adopted by the board.

He said his greatest disappointment was that there was no agreement from the county’s unions to contribute to the cost of their health care.

“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,” he 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. Our employees do a great job, but the money is not there to continue the status quo.”

Astorino said that he was pleased that the board followed his lead and ended the practice of using fund balance – the so-called rainy day fund – to pay for operating expenses. The budget maintains the fund balance at its 2011 level of $110 million. Stabilizing the fund balance, which is meant to be used to pay for unforeseen situations and emergencies, addresses criticism from Moody’s, the rating agency, that the county has been drawing down its reserves over the last six years to levels that jeopardize its AAA status.

When he released his proposed 2012 budget last month, with its zero increase in the property tax levy and $100 million in spending cuts, Astorino said that 210 layoffs were needed to balance the budget. In the final budget approved by the legislators, 187 of the jobs and many of the programs originally cut by Astorino were restored. To accomplish this, the board found $23 million in offsetting cuts.

This budget required tough decisions, which were made in careful consultation with all department heads. The county executive said he was still concerned that some departments with mandated costs set by the federal or state governments will not be able to keep expenditures at the reduced levels set by the board.

The county executive said that the board had not been aware – until apprised of this Thursday by his administration – that the state has told the county to expect a 6.2 percent cost-of-living adjustment next year in costs in some of the county’s social services programs. Of particular concern, he said, is a $5.1 million cut to the Department of Social Services, including $1.3 million for emergency assistance to families and $1.9 million for child welfare. In Astorino’s budget proposal, the only cuts to this department stemmed from a decrease in federal aid; the county maintained its tax-levy support at the same level as 2011.

“We will be monitoring these expenditures very closely in 2012 and will make whatever adjustments we have to,” he said.

Of the legislators’ overall budget, Astorino said, “There are some things that they added back that I can live with and other things I cannot.”

The county executive said he is likely to veto the addition by the board of $1.9 million for three neighborhood health centers and changes to the day care subsidy program. Astorino has argued that the health centers, which provide non-mandated services, run at a profit without county subsidy, noting that their executive directors earn combined salaries of more than $1 million. He had questioned the merit of giving these outside agencies money while the county’s own Department of Health was facing cuts.

As to day care, he has proposed increasing the parent contribution to 35 percent for non-mandated day care, the same amount paid by parents in New York City and many other New York counties. This would increase the number of families that would be able to receive aid by 600.

Astorino has five business days to decide on any vetoes. Under law, he may veto any additions to the budget or the entire budget, but he may not veto any deletions made by the board. A final budget must be adopted by Dec. 27.

While satisfied with the productive talks Thursday with the legislators, Astorino said the timing was unnecessarily rushed and gave no chance for the public to have any input. He said that board practice of having a budget vote the same day that it issued its final plan for cuts should be changed to give more time for scrutiny.

Here is the Democrats version of events:

Westchester Legislators Deliver 0% Tax Increase and Protect Jobs in 2012 Budget

White Plains, NY – The Democratic majority of the Westchester County Board of Legislators (BOL) presented its 2012 County Budget yesterday, delivering a promised 0% increase in the County Tax Levy and restoring 187 jobs to the County workforce that had been cut in the County Executive’s proposed budget.

After a day and night of negotiations with members of the BOL’s Republican caucus and with County Executive Astorino, the BOL’s 2012 County Budget was passed in a special meeting early this morning by a vote of 16-1. It now goes to the County Executive for consideration.

“After listening to several hundred residents in our three public budget hearings and then bringing their ideas and concerns into a careful analysis of the numbers, we have been able to create a budget for 2012 that is right for Westchester,” said BOL Chairman Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers). “This budget preserves essential investments in our infrastructure and prioritizes the maintenance of important programs that protect public safety, public health and the environment.”

The BOL’s 2012 County Budget contains a $1.698 billion spending plan, which is a decrease of more than $91 million from the 2011 County Budget. Also, the BOL’s spending and revenue plans are balanced without using fund balance, which will help protect Westchester County’s AAA Bond rating.

“The only way we could justify bringing back 187 County jobs to the 2012 budget was to offset expenditures and find the funding within the confines of the existing budgeted numbers,” said BOL Majority Leader Peter Harckham (D-Katonah), who noted that additional revenue in the BOL budget includes additional revenue projected at nearly $8.5 million ($4.8 million from the Department of Social Services), over $1 million in reimbursements generated from health center funding and over $8 million in health care savings. “Bottom line is we have put $8.48 million of additions into our 2012 budget by creating $8.48 million in deletions,” said Harckham.

The strong degree of fiscal responsibility in the BOL’s 2012 proposed budget is also “right for Westchester,” noted Jenkins.

“We adopted a budget with a 0% increase in County Tax Levy, and there will be no use of fund balance,” said Jenkins. “It is our intention to protect County’s AAA Bond Rating, and the Board’s actions and financial decisions in 2011 are projected to return $15.8 million to fund balance, and I’m sure this will be viewed positively by the financial community as well.”

The community-minded investments that the BOL deems to be “Right for Westchester” include capital project funding for bridge repairs and flood mitigation, plus maintaining the six County Nature Centers and restoring funding for the Greenburgh Nature Center, the County’s deer management program and Cornell Cooperative Extension.

In addition, the BOL’s proposed 2012 County Budget reduces the parent share for low-income daycare from the County Executive’s proposed 35% to 20%. Funding is restored for ArtsWestchester, Youth in Education, and Community Capital Resources, a not-for-profit organization that provides small business loans to Westchester residents.

A number of investments that Westchester County makes in public safety, public health and the environment actually save money for county taxpayers, which makes them “Right for Westchester” as well.

“The $5 we spend in the Probation Department to monitor defendants each month saves Westchester County taxpayers over $300 it costs to incarcerate individuals in our corrections system,” Harckham pointed out. “Similar savings are found in eviction prevention programs that keep people in their homes instead of the County’s homeless shelters. Community health center funding is cheaper than giving primary care treatment in hospital emergency rooms. Child care support allows people to get off unemployment insurance and on to payrolls. And the many programs we fund for children and young adults have all been shown to decrease delinquency and improve academic success.”

Added Jenkins, “These investments are such proven money savers for taxpayers, it’s hard to understand why they were even cut in the first place.”

After reviewing the County Executive’s 2012 proposed Capital spending plan and identifying approximately 123 projects awaiting bonding authorization, it was decided to retain County engineers and Planning Department staffers slated for layoffs so the projects could be handled by experienced staff without contracting for outside professional help.

“It’s always prudent to retain institutional knowledge when possible,” said Harckham, “and keeping current County engineers involved will move these projects forward in an expeditious manner.”

Last year, when the Westchester County Board of Legislators doubled the County Executive’s proposed decrease in the County Tax Levy and cut $30 million in spending, their budget was tagged as an “historic” achievement.

The 2012 County Budget of the Westchester County Board of Legislators is, simply, heroic. It provides 0% increase in the County Tax Levy while retaining 187 County positions, including 71 in Social Services, protects County Parks and Nature Centers, funds community health care centers, keeps probation officers on the job—all without use of the fund balance!

It’s a budget that is “Right for Westchester.”