Putnam Legislature Passes 2013 Budget
It took county legislators just over three weeks after Maryellen Odell presented her plans for the 2013 fiscal year to tweak and approve the county executive’s first budget. The legislature met for the final night of deliberation this past Thursday, as the nine lawmakers unanimously passed a $139 million budget.
“I would just like to comment about the excellent job being done by the new executive handling this work and as far as risk management goes, in the 18 years I’ve been sitting here never had a presentation and conversation as I had this year,” District 1 Legislator Vincent Tamagna said after casting his ‘yes’ vote.
Though Odell’s tentative budget initially matched the state’s mandatory 2-percent tax cap levy, the legislature achieved a 1.76 percent tax increase for county residents. Putnam County employees will see no layoffs in the 2013 fiscal year.
Legislators also managed to restore funding for two Putnam Area Rapid Transit (PART) routes previously cut by Odell, including the Friday trolley service which runs between the Village of Cold Spring and Garrison—a service District 8 Legislator Dini LoBue said was a “necessity” and not a “luxury” during the legislature’s Oct. 18 meeting
The 2013 budget also approves $12,000 for the county’s “Shop Putnam” small business incentive program, a restoration in $131,000-plus funds for the county sheriff’s jail overtime from $68,000 to $200,000, a $3,000 salary for a part-time emergency services coordinator and a deputy commissioner of planning position.
Both Putnam County Board of Elections commissioners received an $8,000 raise with the legislature rejecting a proposal to double their salaries from $55,477 to nearly $110,000. District 2 Legislator Sam Oliverio, Jr. argued he couldn’t throw his support behind such a drastic hike, especially when the legislature had previously planned to increase the commissioners’ salary in year-to-year increments.
“These individuals were appointed, they requested the appointment and in some cases they lobbied for the appointment knowing what the salary was and to kick [their salaries] up over $100,000 from a base of $55,000 is just not acceptable,” Oliverio, Jr. said. “There isn’t anywhere, perhaps not even in the private sector, where someone doubles their salary in a year’s time.”
With local municipalities expressing distress over maintaining a fruitful funds balance, most legislators expressed comfort in the future of the county’s revenue with sales tax providing a reasonable cushion at a projected $51 million-plus in revenue for the 2011—2012 fiscal year as well as the sale of county properties.
Tamagna closed out the night’s agenda with a request from his legislature to collectively call upon the state for a forensic audit of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), claiming Putnam County should not have to foot the bill for the maintenance of its five Metro-North (which totals up to $1 million annual.)
“Most of our residents must use their own vehicles to get to their places of employment and there are no subsidies to them for these transportation expenses that they incur,” Tamagna said in a prepared statement. “The MTA should be able to maintain their own stations as they received all of the passenger revenues made.”
County Executive Maryellen Odell will now have the opportunity to review the approved budget and make vetoes she deems necessary before its formal adoption.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
