Westchester County BOL Passes 2015 Budget, Maintains Zero Increase Tax Levy
On a vote of 10 to seven the Westchester County Board of legislators passed the 2015 budget last week.
After three public hearings where the focus was child care costs and borrowing to pay for pension amortization and tax certioraris, the BOL finalized their line-item report on the county executive’s proposed budget on Friday, Dec. 5 and voted in the final budget the following Tuesday.
The final budget maintained a $1.75 billion spending plan, up 5 percent or $10 million over 2014, with no increase to the tax levy and no staffing layoffs.
The largest county department, Social Services, also referred to as the county’s safety net, was strong with a $545 million spending plan.
On the issue of tax certioraris, the BOL forced a compromise to borrow $5 million, rather than $8 million, which is expected to save 100 staffing positions over time and cost only $25,000 per year over a five-year period.
On the revenue side, the tax levy will remain at $548 million for the fifth consecutive year. Sales tax is projected to increase by 4 percent to $414 million.
Separate to the operating budget is the capital budget, which allocates $276 million to improve the county airport, water and sewers, highways and bridges.
Labor contracts with seven of the county’s eight unions, leaves only the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), the county’s largest union, not contributing to health care costs.
The approved budget also included an additional $687,000 to the county’s subsidized day care program, specifically the non-federally mandated Title XX program, which covers families making up to three times more than the federal poverty level. It also allocated funds ($60,000) for a childcare subsidy specialist.
With the 27 percent parental childcare contribution maintained, rather than the 15 percent the Child Care Council of Westchester continued to push for, the organization said it intends to continue to work for better early education care in the county and will expand efforts within the community to make sure parents eligible for the Title XX subsidy take advantage of the program.
In a prepared statement the Child Care Council said, “The addition of the subsidy specialist addresses the fact that there was funding in the 2014 budget for the subsidy that went unused, because parents were unaware of the opportunity and/or not able to complete the rather challenging application process on their own. The specialist, based out of our office in Scarsdale, will be out in the community, visiting with businesses, other non-profits, and anywhere else there are hardworking parents who may be eligible for the child care subsidy. This relief will allow those parents to focus on work without worrying about the well-being of their children, and offer employers the benefit of a more productive and less distracted workforce.”
