Slowly Underway, Fiscal Commission Looks for Cost Savings Measures
Working without an audience, and in relative obscurity, the brainstorming that stems from Putnam County’s Commission for Fiscal Vision and Accountability could be the catalyst for future cost saving initiatives and consolidation, at least that’s the hope that commission members expressed last week.
Only a few meetings into the newly formed commission after it was disbanded several years ago, members for Fiscal Vision and Accountability are hoping to push forward tax saving measures as taxes across the municipal board continue to rise and put the crunch on county residents.
“I’m hoping that we’re able to actually make progress and have some positive outcome in the county because otherwise we’re just spinning our wheels,” Town of Kent Supervisor Maureen Fleming.
Legislator Barbara Scuccimarra said the commission, which has eight members currently on it and hopes to add a few more, is still trying to find a direction to go in. Members have only met a few times and with so much to look at, Scuccimarra said, it’s more productive to “hone in on something and just go for that because otherwise you won’t get anything done.
One area the commission seems to be stepping toward is finding ways to reduce overtime paid to Putnam County Sheriff
deputies, which can make up a considerable expense for the county each year. During a Jan. 29 meeting of the commission, members discussed ways to cut down on the overtime and plan on inviting Sheriff Don Smith to its next meeting to get more numbers and information on the overtime paid to deputies.
“I don’t want to step on the sheriff’s toes and I don’t want him to think this is any reflection on how he’s doing his job because I think he’s doing a wonderful job,” Scuccimarra said. “Our mission is help find ways to save taxpayer dollars, that’s all.”
Legislator Ginny Nacerino pondered how many deputies are actually needed for special events like high school sporting events, parades, and high school proms, calling the current system not sustainable.
Carmel businessman Neal Sullivan also said he doesn’t think it’s necessary to have a strong sheriff presence at high school sporting events and the sheriff ’s office needs to better explain the amount of overtime currently used.
Outside of the sheriff ’s department, members had different ideas to reduce the tax burden on residents, ranging from county departments to towns and school systems. In most cases, the commission would need cooperation from different municipal levels in order to make concrete progress.
Fleming said she would like to see all school districts in the county consolidate into one district, hopefully cutting down on the number of administrators needed. Overall, Putnam holds six different school districts.
“Even if you just consolidate some of the administrators, people would see it reflected in their tax bill and they’d be pretty happy about that,” Fleming said. “The school taxes after all are the biggest chunk of our taxes.”
Scuccimarra, who represents the west side of Putnam, believes the three different
municipal court systems that are within a mile of each other should merge into one for better cost efficiency. Philipstown, Cold Spring, and Nelsonville all have its own courts, despite its close proximity, Scuccimarra said, and she has even approached the Philipstown town board about issue.
As Nacerino said, there are many ideas the commission can still broach and opportunities are unlimited.
“Again, we’ve only had three meetings so everything is still a diamond in the rough,” Nacerino said.
