Astorino Keeps No Tax Levy Increase Pledge in Proposed 2015 Westchester Budget
Hot off the gubernatorial campaign trail, Westchester County Executive Robert Astorino was back at the podium Monday morning at a press conference to introduce the proposed 2015 county budget. “We have kept the pledge,” he said. “This is the fifth straight year that we have no property tax levy increase.”
Setting down three benchmarks for budget development – preparing a balanced budget, no tax levy increase, and no draining of the reserve fund – Astorino said the county is operating within its means.
The $1.76 billion proposed budget reflects flat revenues from federal and state aid at $457 million combined, and a bump up in sales tax revenues to $414 million, up 4 percent over 2014. The largest source of revenue, at 32 percent of the budget, is the county tax levy. It remains at $548 million. The remaining source of revenue comes from fees paid to the county, again expected to be flat in 2015 at $150 million.
At the same time, spending will increase by $21 million or one percent.
Astorino said all essential services and staffing are maintained. There is a $5 million savings due to the agreement by seven of the eight county unions to contribute to their health care for the first time.
CSEA, which represents 75 percent of the county’s employees, continues to not contribute to healthcare and does not have a renewed contract due to the standoff. Astorino indicated talks are ongoing.
Other savings are realized by reducing job vacancies, reduction in overtime and some departmental consolidation. The proposed headcount in the 2015 budget is 4,859 positions, relatively flat compared to 2014.
Astorino explained that the average county employee earns $77,000 annually. With the addition of “fringe benefits” that number increases to $121,000, which Astorino emphasized, was well over the average employee salary in the public sector.
Social Services continued as the largest department with $553 million on the budget line for 2015, up $1 million from 2014.
The County Executive said there was good news regarding day care in that the parental contribution remained at 27 percent; the same as last year. And that capacity had gone up 15 percent with 436 new slots added for 2015.
Unfunded mandates continue to be a major source of controversy with 83 cents of every county tax dollar going to those mandates, totaling $454 million. The largest is Medicaid projected at $212 million for 2015 and pensions projected at $91 million.
The proposed budget calls for the county to pay $76 million of the $91 million pension expense up front and defer $15 million. Astorino prefers to not dip into the county’s general reserve or “rainy day” fund for the remaining $15 million, preferring to borrow from the state, saying that keeping the fund in tact and growing allows the county to keep its high credit rating.
Astorino made it clear that Playland would be open for the 2015 season. A report on improving current operations with a possible private sector partnership is expected by the end of this year.
The proposed budget now moves to the Board of Legislators for review.
In an interview after Astorino’s presentation, BOL chair Michael Kaplowitz (D-Somers) said: “The devil is in the details. We will know better what changes we might want to make after we go through line by line. We have to do the due diligence, make sure we are not borrowing money where we shouldn’t be. It’s a check and balance.”
Kaplowitz added that the county’s infrastructure was a primary concern and the BOL wanted to accelerate things in that area.
Regarding the parental childcare contribution remaining at 27 percent, Kaplowitz said he was glad to see the number of slots go up, but noted that the BOL would look at where the money was going, to ensure that the right people benefitted from the program.
Kaplowitz was also eager to get the report on Playland expected at the end of the year. “Right now Playland’s revenues are $10 million to $12 million and the expenditures are somewhere from $13 million to $15 million,” he explained, adding that if a private sector relationship could be found by the end of the year, the budget might benefit. But since the county only had until December 27 to pass the budget, it would be tight, and unlikely to add to revenues for 2015.
