Day (file): “I am not going
to allow it …”
NEW CITY – Rockland County Executive Edwin Day announced a number of austerity measures on Friday to tighten county government’s belt since the anticipated sale of the county’s Sain Building did not go through.
Day, a Republican, puts the blame of the failed sale of the building on the backs of the Democratic majority in the county legislature.
“Unlike past years where there was a lackadaisical attitude to budget shortfalls, which got us into a lot of trouble, I am not going to allow it to happen again this time and I am taking austerity measures now to protect the treasury, to make sure that people of Rockland County from going down the tubes as it was, and on top of that, getting a huge tax increase was the order of the day before I came into office,” Day said.
The leadership of the legislature, meanwhile, says it is the other way around; that Day killed the deal to sell the Sain Building.
Day said the sale would have brought $4.51 million into county coffers and without it, Rockland is headed to a $4 million deficit at the end of the year.
As a result, he has ordered:
An immediate hiring freeze except for critical positions approved by Day
No more overtime for county employees without Day’s approval
All discretionary fund accounts have been secured and requests to release funds must be submitted by a department head or commissioner to the finance department and the county executive’s office for approval
There is a ban on all non-critical training and related expenses such as seminars, conferences and travel
The car policy has been updated to make sure that all county-owned vehicles are parked at county facilities at the end of shifts
20-percent of county-owned cars have to be turned in
Vendors will be paid later
All mailings, including from Day’s office, with the exception of the county legislature, are prohibited
Department heads are charged with immediately renegotiating existing contracts to achieve a minimum of 10 percent cost savings.
The county will consider a partial closure of all county parks effective September 15
Day expects those measures to save roughly $3.3 million. The plan does not affect services involving public health, public transportation or public safety.
There may be impacts, though, in other ways. Fewer employees means a slower time of returning phone calls, grass being cut less frequently in county parks and less trash pickup. Wait times will increase and off-hour responses will need to wait until the next business day.
