Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino has proposed laying off 126 employees to help balance his $1.7 billion proposed budget for 2013.
The budget, which would have no tax-levy increase and take no money from reserves, would also cut funding to neighborhood health centers in Ossining, Peekskill and Mount Vernon, eliminate three of six curators at county nature centers and cut subsidies to families in the county’s child-care programs, according to a LoHud.com article by writer Elizabeth Ganga.
These and other cuts would help fill an $85 million gap. The budget wold raise $548 million in property-tax revenue, the same as this year.
Astorino said major causes of the cuts are unfunded state mandates, which account for 85 percent of county spending, and the unwillingness of Civil Service Employees Association, the county’s largest union, to negotiate higher health contributions for members. The union said it offered millions of dollars in savings but was holding out for a “no-layoff” clause in the contract.
“As much as we would love to fully fund every program everywhere for everything that we have done or continue to do, it’s just not possible given the costs that go up every year and the help that we need and don’t get from Albany,” Astorino said.
To read Ganga’s full article, click here.
Photo: Astorino delivers his proposed 2013 county budget at the Michaelian County Office Building in White Plains on Nov. 14, 2012. ( Seth Harrison / The Journal News )
