Westchester County officials estimate they will save more than $400,000 annually as a result of the recent decision to relocate parts of the Health Department to county-owned buildings and reduce the department’s leased space in New Rochelle, The Journal News/Lohud.com reports today.
With additional department downsizings and lease changes, the county will save nearly $1.7 million next year. The tax levy is more than $548 million, so the savings would be one-third of 1 percent of overall county property taxes.
“We have a smaller work force, so we need less space. But not only that — we’re also looking at the most economical space,” Ned McCormack, a spokesman for County Executive Rob Astorino, told The Journal News/Lohud.com.
The county has 4,954 employees this year, down 13 percent from 5,701 in 2010. The Health Department has 77 fewer staff members than in 2010, 21 percent of the workforce.
The Civil Service Employees Association, which represents 3,200 county workers, has lost 800 people through layoffs and retirements in the past two years, according to Karen Pecora, president of CSEA Unit 9200.
Other savings from lease changes and downsizings includes $213,726 a year after vacating leased space in Mount Kisco and closing four community mental-health clinics last year; $226,519 a year from reducing the Department of Social Services’ lease space on County Center Road in White Plains; and $72,600 a year from negotiating new lease terms for the Department of Environmental Facilities on North Avenue in New Rochelle.
(Journal News file photo.)
