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 White Plains, NY - Westchester County Board Vice-Chairman Michael Kaplowitz (D,I -Somers), the Board’s Committee on Government Operations Chairman Legislator Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers), Democratic Majority Whip Judith Myers (D-Larchmont), the Board’s Committee on Legislation Chairman Legislator Bill Burton (D-Ossining), the Board’s Committee on Public Safety and Security Chairman Legislator Vito Pinto (D-Tuckahoe), Legislators Peter Harckham (D-Katonah) and John Nonna (D-Mount Pleasant) released a preliminary outline calling for the consolidation of agencies and the streamlining of Westchester County government during a press conference December 8, 2009.
“All across America, businesses are downsizing their operations and eliminating duplicate services in order to better control costs in these financially difficult times,” remarked Kaplowitz, a certified financial planner and immediate past chairman of the Legislature’s Budget & Appropriations Committee. “We’ve heard the growing frustration of residents in our county, which culminated on Election Day, and we get it. This is a strong first step towards right-sizing county government.” Today’s announcement comes on the heels of the release of the outgoing County Executive’s fiscal year (FY) 2010 proposed budget, which calls for a 4.88% property tax increase, which Kaplowitz and others say, “is simply not acceptable.”
Details of the proposed outline include:
* The consolidation of county departments and offices from 36 to 19 departments
* The reduction of 51 non-represented staff positions, for a total savings of $7.5 million
Increasingly, communities are looking to the consolidation mechanism as a way of achieving efficiencies in response to citizen demands for services and cost-savings. These reductions, which recognize the severity of the current fiscal crisis, reflect common sense solutions designed to allow agencies to do more with less.
Other cuts will be targeted to eliminate redundancies and maximize efficiencies. “Westchester’s residents are clearly suffering due to the downturn in our economy. They have lost jobs, their family savings and retirement funds are being depleted, yet they are expected to continue paying for duplication in government,” remarked Majority Whip Myers. “It is our fundamental responsibility as legislators to make government work efficiently on behalf of its residents, and at its current structure and size, it simply isn’t providing the financial relief to our taxpayers.” This outline limits the scope of operations for the county to those services that are mandatory and can effectively and efficiently be conducted. “This is a great framework and an appropriate first step. I look forward to discussing with my colleagues the actual implementation steps to reorganize and achieve savings," said Legislator Jenkins.
“Today’s worsening financial situation means that it’s time take necessary, albeit, painful steps to cut our county budget,” said Legislator Burton.
“My constituents have no opposition to funding the social safety net that is so critical during these unprecedented economic times. What they have said to me is that we need to cut the cost of government itself, not programs,” said Legislator Harckham. “This plan makes government more efficient, cost effective and still able to deliver critical services.”
“The public has spoken with a loud voice that it wants significant steps to be taken to reduce the cost of county government,” said Legislator Nonna. “The Board must be a leader in finding innovative and significant ways to reduce the cost of county government. We must take steps to consolidate county government departments in a responsible way. We must find savings in budget lines. We can no longer make excuses or point the finger toward Albany or anyone else.”
“The overall goals of the proposed consolidation plan are to significantly save taxpayer dollars, streamline service delivery and eliminate duplicative administrative personnel and services,” remarked Legislator Pinto.
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