Few Speak Out At County Budget Hearing

Very few Rockland County residents spoke at the legislature’s public hearings on the proposed 2014 budget and tax cap override on Tuesday. Nanuet resident Jim Flynn criticized the revenue side of the budget for double counting some items and claimed the 2013 deficit could reach $150 million. The current budget deficit from 2012 is $128 million.

CSEA President Tom Ninan asked legislators to reassign 40 employees in the Mental Health Department who are slated to lose their job on July 1 when Nyack Hospital takes over those services.

The proposed county budget for 2014 is $760,864,295 and carries a 9.9 percent property tax increase.  During the public hearing on overriding the state’s 2 percent property tax cap, Ruth Ivey of Wesley Hills said she did not understand how the 9.9 percent tax hike was being projected as just a $101 tax increase for the average homeowner.

She said the proposed budget showed no restraint in spending and the legislators were not showing any consideration for their constituents when they should be pushing forward and offering buyouts, cutting jobs and outsourcing work. 

“This budget is definitely out of control and I ask you to take a second look at it,” said Ivey. 

She faulted the legislature for asking the state to allow it to bond $96 million to pay down the deficit.

“You do not borrow to pay down debt, you reduce expenditures and tighten your belt,” she said. 

Flynn also took issue with the bond and the absence of any funding in the proposed budget to begin paying for it. 

The $96 million bond must be repaid over a 10-year period. The legislature also held a third public hearing offering alternatives to its current local law, the Rockland County Deficit Reduction Act, which was passed prior to the governor authorizing the bond. The options included:

• Leaving the yearly allocation to reduce the deficit at $10 million
• Adjusting the yearly payment on the deficit to 10 percent of the remaining deficit after $96 million is paid or $3 million, whichever amount is higher
• Revise the word of the local law to clarify its intent
• Require the county to allocate $10 million annually beginning in 2015 not 2014

Legislators will vote to adopt the proposed 2014 budget, tax cap override and possible amendment to the Deficit Reduction Act at their December 5th meeting.