Astorino: “working together”
VALHALLA – The Westchester County shared service plan advanced
to Albany for final approval would save county taxpayers almost $6 million
over the next few years. County Executive Robert Astorino, Thursday, outlined
the plan while at the Fire Training Center in Valhalla.
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Municipal leaders have unanimously approved the plan, which would address
mostly information technology initiatives to save money by eliminating
redundancies and increase efficiencies in government.
Initiatives have the county assisting some localities with IT management,
document scanning and storage, and technology and software purchasing,
among others, that can reduce costs on a local level.
“We know that sharing services is not a silver bullet,” said
Astorino. “The way to reduce taxes is by growing the economy, controlling
costs and eliminating state mandates. But, by working together, we are
able to find additional savings and provide services more cost-effectively.”
The county executive did note that in recent years he has put in place
shared services initiatives totaling $55 million a year. He said he has
also lowered the tax levy by two percent since 2010, which has kept an
estimated $400 million in taxpayers’ pockets.