Has Vanderhoef's Utopia Become Rockland's Dystopia?

Utopia: An imaginary place described in Sir Thomas More's 'Utopia' (1516) as enjoying perfection in law, politics, economics, happiness and prosperity.  Dystopia: An imaginary society characterized by misery, poverty, oppression and overcrowding. 

This morning I turned on Channel 12 Newsmakers to find County Executive, Scott Vanderhoef, being interviewed by Tim Cassidy about the state of the County's finances. Listening to him talking about his perception of Rockland as the island of 'Utopia' I wondered if he is leaving the rest of us in the future island of 'Dystopia'?  

Whatever the case may be his performance left me convinced that Rockland County urgently requires new leadership and the sooner Vanderhoef is gone the better. Rockland County has a bond rating one level above ‘junk’ status.  Two years ago it raised taxes by over 30% and last year by 18%. 

Vanderhoef has stayed too long! Here is his utopian analysis of the financial situation in the county:

Vanderhoef: There is a fallacy out there that somehow Rockland County is bankrupt and it's not. We have taken care of the finances as 'best we can'. Yes, we have financial challenges - many governments do. What I will be looking for in the candidates (for County Executive) is an honest appraisal of the kinds of things they think we can do other than what we have done which is lay off people and close programs and under spend the budget. I will look for the credible things these candidates will talk about because each of them talks about addressing the financial issues of the county but the verbosity of - "Oh we are bankrupt"- I don't think that is going to work.  It is not accurate so let's see how the candidates actually provide some substantive answers to some of the 'real' issues.  

Cassidy: What do you think are the biggest challenges for the person who takes office in January?

Vanderhoef:  We will have stabilized the County's finances but going forward they are going to have to make sure that they balance - as we did not do that well, we lost our revenues - balance the needs of the people. We have cut back so much now on County governance and the actual services that the next County Executive will likely want to add things 'here and there' which means they are going to have to figure out how to pay for it.  

Asked about his accomplishments ....

Vanderhoef:  We have worked hard with the Legislature to crawl out of this financial challenge. I hope they don't think I stayed too long. We have had seven or eight years of no tax increases - we dropped it down to the lowest tax rate in the State of New York.

That is Vanderhoef’s Utopia – here is Rockland County’s Dystopia …..

According to the March 20, 2012 issue of the Journal News Rockland County did not have a Finance Director. It was "muddling along" appointing a temporary one every 6 months. Vanderhoef’s explanation of this “muddling along” was that he wanted to maintain options when it came to the finance post. “We’re still in a learning curve at a very critical time,” Vanderhoef said. “I want to retain flexibility where we need to. “We just haven't had time to look.”

We just haven't had time to look?

Vanderhoef and the County Legislature have racked up over $100 million in deficits while they were on a “learning curve” and “haven't had the time” to find someone with business competency in finance!

H. Jackson Brown, author of 'Life's Little Instruction Book', which was a New York Times bestseller (1991–1994), remarked:

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein."

In his interview Vanderhoef made no mention of the fact that two years ago County taxes were raised by over 30% and last year they were raised by 18%. The County is insolvent.  It does not have the cash on hand with which it can pay its bills. The County has an approximately $100 million budget deficit and, while it is not yet technically bankrupt, if its state of insolvency continues it will be bankrupt.

Vanderhoef blames his problems on the fact that the County’s income did not keep up with its spending because of the recession but fails to notice that for many taxpayers their incomes went to zero when jobs were lost in the recession. 

However, truth be told, there were numerous jobs that were not lost in the recession but those were in the patronage departments of our local government.  On December 18, 2012 when the County Legislature voted to override Vanderhoef's budget vetoes and retain full employment for all of the County's CSEA employees, P.T. Thomas the Head of the Rockland County CSEA was asked if he knew how many patronage appointments there were in the County. He stated unequivocally that there are 110 such positions costing the County a minimum of $5-7 million per year in salaries. Thomas went on to reproach one patronage appointee saying: "Legislator Sparaco should be ashamed of himself - he took a $75,000 patronage job (in Clarkstown)".

In the 'Our Town' newspaper of December 12, 2012 one legislator droned on about how "patronage employees were the most protected employees in County government to the extent that suggesting cuts was heresy". Legislator, Ed Day, commented that the head of one department is making as much as the County Executive; one deputy commissioner will be collecting three pensions upon retirement; the Head of Tourism for Rockland County is receiving more than $100,000 for what is basically a clerical position overseeing a website; and one patronage person was laid off but was immediately 're-hired 'temporarily' in a higher paid position.

Just because County Executive Vanderheof is leaving the County's taxpayers with over $100 million in deficits doesn't mean that he might desist from adding to it with a little help to his own friends. In a Journal News Opinion piece of May 31, 2013 entitled ‘Vanderhoef Ally's Appointment Not About Saving Money’ we read:

When a political favor is framed as a “salary savings” it’s easy to figure out how Rockland County could slide into a $100 million-plus deficit in a matter of years.  Sean Mathews, longtime political ally and chief of staff to County Executive Scott Vanderhoef, has been named the county’s real property tax services officer, a job that has been vacant for nearly six months. The position is budgeted to pay $82,300. As chief of staff, Mathews receives a salary of $105,900. Because Mathews is keeping his chief of staff title, he will keep the higher salary — even though many of those duties will be picked up by county Consumer Protection Director Terry Grosselfinger. The latter gains the title of deputy county executive.  

Here’s the clever math: Vanderhoef says this maneuver will save taxpayers $82,300. How's that? The County doesn't have to pay another person to take the tax services officer position; the county just has to pay a longtime political operative more money. It’s arguable whether such job-shifting saves the county money, but it most certainly preserves Mathews' employment. 

Political payback? Yes. A money saver? No way.

Vanderhoef also failed to mention in his utopian interview that the County Legislature put the care and feeding of its horses above the needs of the senior citizens of Rockland County.

How you may ask?  Here's how ........

The Legislature, knowing that the County was nearly bankrupt and had a bond rating just above junk status, signed a "contract" with the CSEA that no one could be laid off for "budgetary reasons". Originally Vanderhoef proposed eliminating about 70 positions including the Sheriff's Mounted Patrol, i.e. "All of the King's Horses and All of the King's Men". The legislators restored all of the cut positions including the "King's horses". Vanderhoef then vetoed practically all of the legislators’ proposed budget, except for the horses!  

The result was that senior citizens saw an 18% tax increase in their County Tax bill last year which completely erased the 1.7% increase they got in their social security in 2013. 

The bottom line?

1) The horses for the County’s mounted patrol are being well-fed, well-housed and receive full veterinarian services. They can expect a well-fed, stress-free retirement after their time trotting around Rockland performing the function Ilan Schoenberger said they were needed for - “crowd control”. 

2) The seniors got an 18% tax increase that completely wiped out the 1.7% increase they got in their social security this year while struggling to pay their medical premiums, co-pays etc. They can expect a stress-filled future in their retirement worrying if they will be able to stay in their homes with rising school, Town, and County Taxes. 

Utopia's horses come before Dystopia's seniors who may gather in an angry "crowd" which will have to be "controlled" by Schoenberger's horses. 

Watching County Executive Vanderhoef dancing this 'do-si-do' with his equally utopian legislature should remind us of what George Orwell wrote in his political satire ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four': 

"He thought as he re-adjusted the Ministry of Plenty's figures, it was not even forgery. It was merely the substitution of one piece of nonsense for another. Most of the material that you were dealing with had no connection with anything in the real world, not even the kind of connection that is contained in a direct lie. Statistics were just as much a fantasy in their original version as in their rectified version." 

Here are the dystopian figures that do have connection with the real world .....

Rockland County’s debt was $250 million with a nearly $120 million deficit as of 12/31/12 and $1 Billion dollars (that's not a typo, Dystopians, that is a B as in BILLION) of unfunded OPEB (Other than Pension Post Employment Benefits).  You can guess what this debt, deficit, and unfunded liabilities will do to dystopian taxes and home values in Rockland County in the coming years.  

Dystopians' wallets are the piggy-banks utopian politicians plunder while the patronizing hogs they keep on their 'Animal Farm' engorge themselves at the Dystopians' public trough. 

Michael N. Hull is a retired dystopian senior citizen who writes opinion pieces on local political issues. He is a Director of Clarkstown Residents Opposing Patronage with Tom Nimick and Ralph Sabatini. Hull contributes periodically to the Facebook page Clarkstown: What They Don't Want You To Know and he is assisting in setting up the 'Preserve Rockland' election line so that the electorate may be offered an alternative slate of candidates in the 2013 local elections for Clarkstown Town Supervisor, Town Board, Highway Superintendent, and for County Executive. 

Picture Courtesy of ActionSpeaksRadio.org