More Aid, Voluntary Workforce Reduction Part of W’chester Deficit Strategy
Additional federal aid and a new voluntary program allowing county employees to consider leaving their jobs in exchange for severance pay will help trim Westchester County’s budget deficit that could be as high as $250 million.
County Executive George Latimer announced Wednesday that Westchester will receive $38.5 million more in aid than originally anticipated and will save about $2.8 million because there are fewer inmates at the county jail.
This summer eligible county employees may choose to participate in the Voluntary Separation Program that will pay them $1,000 for every year of service. Eligible employees have until July 24 to decide whether they will participate in the program that is expected to save the county between $1 million and $2 million for the remainder of 2020, Latimer said.
A participating employee would receive their severance pay within 75 days of their departure.
“These are actions that we’ve taken proactively,” Latimer said. “We’re not waiting to find out, ‘Oh my God, we have a big gap, how are we going to cover it, how are we going to pay for it?’”
The deficit was caused by the shutdown of the economy in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with another $21 million in savings and reallocations disclosed more than two months ago, the county has now accounted for more than $62 million of the estimated budget gap, leaving a deficit of $118 million to $188 million, Latimer said. The reallocation announced in April calls for the bonding of tax certioraris and the county’s pension obligation and using $10 million that was to be deposited into fund balance.
Additional steps will have to be taken, although Latimer said he remains hopeful that Washington will provide some help for states, counties and municipalities with COVID-19 now surging in many areas of the country, decimating budgets and depressing revenues in most states.
Westchester is due to receive another $30 million in aid for the Bee-Line bus service as a result of the CARES Act, another $4.7 million in enhanced Medicaid payments and an additional $3.8 million from its U.S. marshal service contract.
Latimer said his administration is doing everything it can to avoid furloughs and layoffs, which would only hurt the local economy and make it difficult to deliver the essential services that the public expects.
“If we lay off a significant number of people in the county government we’re going to add to the economic downturn in this county,” he said. “We are going to exacerbate the problems that you have right now.”
County employees eligible for the Voluntary Separation program are members of the CSEA, Teamsters, nurse’s union and management not represented by a union. The program would not include workers at Westchester Community College, the district attorney’s investigators, police and corrections officers or any elected official.
The program would save up to $2 million for the final five months of this year, but would also cut an estimated $6 million to $10 million in the 2021 budget.
“It is the necessary and right thing to do right now to make this offer and to try to determine how many employees choose to participate in the program, to save whatever we can to close the gap that we have,” Latimer said.
Once the year is over, the county would decide whether to keep the positions vacant, to fill it later on in 2021 or to replace the worker with someone with less experience at a lower salary.
The Board of Legislators is expected to approve the program at its July 13 meeting.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/