Orangetown Council Debates Possible Budget Cuts for 2012

The Orangetown Council debated possible cuts to its 2012 budget at Monday's special meeting, some more controversial than others.

"None of these options are particularly attractive," Orangetown Director of Finance Charlie Richardson said. "If they were, they would have been in the budget proposal.

Orangetown's department heads were asked to provide options for how their budget could be cut by 5%. For the Orangetown Police Department, that came to approximately $600,000, one reason that department would have to cut personnel to reach the number.

Richardson said the department had to deal with built-in salary increases for several officers and the purchase of new communications equipment necessary to close gaps in "dead spots" located primarily in Nyack, but also in Pearl River and other parts of the town.

Those cuts included losing four police officers, either by retirements or layoffs, pulling officers from BOCES and the Rockland County Narcotics Task Force, demoting one sergeant and two lieutenants and cutting into staffing at special events, including the Pearl River St. Patrick's Day parade.

"I’m not in favor of touching St. Patrick's Day or the demotions," Councilman Michael Maturo said. "Those are unacceptable to me."

Maturo did not realize the proposals included potential cutting of staff until after he made that comment.

Councilman Denis Troy has argued strongly against any layoffs in the budget process. He took that moment to remind the board that part of the problem was the decision to vote against the local law that would have allowed Orangetown to override the 2% tax cap last week. Troy and Councilwoman Nancy Low-Hogan voted for the override.

"If we were not between a rock and a hard place for the two percent, we wouldn't be in this particular place," Troy said.

"The cuts we discussed for the police are very substantial," Maturo said. "These are all options, but it is unlikely we will do all of them. I appreciate the chief giving us options, but they are only options at this point."

Nulty suggested that losing the officer at BOCES might not even save that much in the long run because that officer is able to deal with issues that would often require two officers to be called in if he was not there.

The proposals also included cutting the Supervisor's assistant from full-time to half-time, saving $34,481.Troy pointed out that the position used to be that way, but was changed due to the workload at the time.

"At the time, we had the comprehensive plan going on," Troy said. "We had Route 303. We made it full-time because of the issues at the time. I don't believe we have the same issues right now."

"If I was going forward right now, I could work with someone half-time," Supervisor Paul Whalen said. "We have two other support people in the office."

Whalen lost to Andy Stewart in last week's election for town supervisor, though the results technically are not official yet. Stewart was at Monday's meeting and disagreed with the potential cut.

"Right now, it's the town council making the budget. All I can do is make a comment like any other member of the public," Stewart said. "My comment is that I don't think we should cut the Supervisor's Executive Assistant because it's a time when we need leadership and support for that. The people just elected me their leader.

"The executive assistant is a position that I could put to very great use to help the town. I don't see it as Andy's sidekick. It is a professional position that can be used to support town functions. We need at least one position besides supervisor that can help out where needed. Everybody else has a very specific and crucial job description. This is one position you can use creatively based on need. The town is a $63 million operation. It just doesn't make sense.

Among the other proposals:

• Charge the four local school districts for the collection of their taxes. Currently, Orangetown does not charge at all for this service, but by state law, it can up to 1% of the districts' tax revenues.
• Eliminate the HABOR Committee, giving its duties to ACABOR, which would then be reduced from seven to five members.
• Eliminate overtime for sweeping and leaf removal from the Orangetown Highway Department.
• Parks and Recreation would eliminate or reduce funding for events such as summer concerts and family movie nights.

The primary stumbling block remains the tax settlement with Pfizer, though Richardson clarified the cost of that. It will actually cost $2.099 million toward the cap for Pfizer alone, plus another $425,993 for other tax settlements. The number for Pfizer had previously been reported at approximately $2.4 million.

The change is because the town contends that the refund should not include special districts or use charges, such as sewage, and Pfizer had not contested the change.

The next public discussion of the budget will be at the regularly-scheduled town workshop 8 p.m. Tuesday, at which the town could vote on the 2012 budget. Richardson said they will be approving a budget by Friday.