 White Plains, NY - The League of Women Voters of Westchester (LWVW) thanks the Board of Legislators for this opportunity to present its view on the proposed budget. We believe that the County budget must reflect the priorities of the citizens and taxpayers for services provided by the county government. In this context, we offer the following comments and suggestions.
Board of Legislators (“BOL”) Budget: The League is still concerned about the fact that, unlike other departments, the Board of Legislators does not list its personnel and salaries in the operating budget. By way of comparison, the budgeted amount for the BOL ($4.6 million before fringe benefits) is $1.0 million greater than the amount expended in 2006 ($3.6 million). Although the BOL represents a tiny fraction of the budget, the lack of information provided in the BOL’s section of the budget (e.g., no mission statement, number of personnel positions, salaries, etc.) raises questions about its willingness to be accountable to the tax-paying residents of Westchester. Although some members of the BOL have indicated that they plan to scrutinize the budgets of other County departments, which includes staffing, they have not indicated that they will apply the same level of analysis to their own departmental budget, despite the recent significant increases. This oversight must be corrected in the 2008 and future budgets.
HAVA (“Help America Vote Act”): Based on extensive research by the LWVNYS and LWVW, the League’s position is that precinct-based optical scan machines with a verifiable paper trail are the most reliable and cost-effective voting machines available. The League’s study concludes that these are the least expensive machines to buy, store and maintain. It is therefore essential that the Board of Legislators keep monitoring this item closely as it appears in both the capital and operating budgets over which the BOL has control. We expect there will be major increases in expenses in both the capital and operating budgets required by HAVA legislation. In addition, we expect voter training to be a major issue, and the League, with its long record of service to voters, looks forward to assisting in this area.
Duplication of Services: To contain costs, we urge the BOL and the administration to institute major in-depth studies of administration and departmental costs to determine actual needs and duplication of services.
MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority): The County gives the MTA approximately $146 million from both the capital and operating budgets through such areas as a portion of the sales and mortgage taxes, with no accountability to the County. The Board of Legislators and the Administration must insist on periodic, audited reports detailing where the money is being spent.
Medical Center: The League believes that the continuing mission of the Medical Center is to serve as the regional tertiary care and trauma center. Since the Medical Center serves six neighboring counties, we urge that there should be continued lobbying at the state level for assistance from these counties, and the League would be willing to help in such lobbying efforts.
Taxes: The League is very concerned about the continual peaks and valleys in property tax levies. The League believes that such fluctuations are not fiscally prudent and a policy to address this issue should be developed by both the Board of Legislators and the Administration in future budgets.
Reassessment (“Reval”): While the proposed increase in the county tax levy is 4.74%, there are municipalities that will sustain a hefty rise due to the application of the equalization formula necessitated by the inconsistencies in current assessments. As we have stated in the past, countywide property reassessment is essential, and the administration and Board of Legislators should immediately move forward to implement it.
Department of Corrections: The League is very concerned about the significant proposed increase of $9.7 million over last year’s budgeted amount of $110.4 million to $120.1 million for this department. We suggest that this budget be re-examined for cost savings.
Day Care: The League supports the proposed increase of 298 slots in the number of low-income day care slots that are available, which raises the total to 2,039 slots. We also are in favor of lowering the day care co-payments from 15% to 10%.
Pesticide Control: To ensure full implementation of and compliance with the Pesticide Reduction Law, again the League strongly urges inclusion of funding for a full-time professional Pest Management Coordinator in the Department of Health.
Budget Process: The Board of Legislators must vigorously petition the County Executive to release the budget at an earlier date. The current schedule allows no time for analysis and study of this very complex and complicated document. As we have said for more than twenty years, this is a disservice to the public as well as to the Board of Legislators itself.
The League of Women Voters of Westchester thanks Deputy Budget Director Arthur Vietro and First Deputy Budget Director John Delaney for their availability and the information they have provided to us. We also thank the Board of Legislators for their consideration of our concerns and suggestions.
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