Proposals For 2014 County Budget And Tax Cap Override

The proposed 2014 Rockland County Budget will be presented at Tuesday’s meeting of the legislature’s Budget & Finance Committee. Along with the proposed budget, which includes a 9.9 percent tax increase, the committee will be voting on scheduling public hearings to override the state property tax cap of 2 percent and amend local law for the Rockland County Deficit Reduction Act.

The reduction act requires the county to set aside $10 million annually to pay down its more than $125 million budget deficit. 

The Planning and Public Works Committee is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. and receive an update on contract extensions with Hudson Transit Corp. and Rockland Transit Corp. 

Other agenda items for the 7:15 p.m. Budget & Finance meeting include voting on a:

• $186,500 contract with Fesco Fence of West Nyack to replace the perimeter fence around the county jail
• $560,000 agreement with HVB Construction, Inc. of Harriman to replace the roof on the sheriff’s building
•  $228,950 contract with WJL Equities Corp. of Eastchester for a new parking lot and entrance to Dutch Garden in New City
• $958,960 agreement with eClinical Works LLC of Westborough, MA for electronic health records software implementation, hosting and maintenance from November 1, 2013 through October 31, 2018
• $378,963 contract with Dutchess Tel-Audio Inc. of Poughkeepsie for replacement equipment, design and installation of the nurse call system at the Summit Park Hospital & Nursing Care Center. The agreement is for totally replacing call systems on the fourth, fifth and ninth floors and reusing part and replacing just what is necessary on the sixth, seventh and eighth floors
• $73,694 state grant to digitize historical deeds and mortgages in the county clerk’s office.

Budget & Finance committee members will also vote on amending the capital budget by $4.5 million to reflect the increased project cost for the reconstruction of New Hempstead Road. The original project agreement did not include the utility portion of the work in the calculations, which is 100 percent reimbursable by the utilities. The county’s cost for rebuilding the roadway between North Main Street and the Palisades Interstate Parkway will not increase.    

Other committees will vote earlier on many of the items that will go before Budget & Finance Committee.  Public Safety convenes at 5:30 p.m. and Multi Services at 6 p.m. All meetings are open to the public and are held at 11 New Hempstead Road in New City.