Let’s See How Much Better We Can Do!

For the second year in a row, the Westchester County Legislature submitted their version of the County’s budget to County Executive (CE) Astorino. After three heavily attended rounds of public hearings around the county, the representative public clamored “no!” when it came to CE Astorino’s proposed cuts. And with the County Legislature’s 12 Democrats and 5 Republicans on the board, the vote appeared it would once again be a partisan split, as it was during last year’s budget vote. The balance of the Legislature will change on January 1st, when two more Republicans get sworn in. Still, Legislator Jim Maisano’s public wish to not be the minority leader still seems elusive for him.

CE Astorino rejected $10 million in spending after the county board approved a $1.69 billion budget. This included $1.9 million for neighborhood health centers, $990,000 for Cornell Cooperative Extension, $378,000 for Invest-in-Kids programs, $4.3 million in day-care subsidies, $100,000 for ethnic festivals and restoration of the Route 76 bus line between Rye and White Plains. No doubt we could use scrutiny with some of these dollars. I continue to find it interesting that CE Astorino would cut one bus route while touting another bus route with the Tappan Zee Bridge proposal that I’m convinced comes as an Obama reelection/Cuomo presidential campaign ploy. If we can’t afford a small bus route between Rye and White Plains, how will we be able to afford a much larger one from Rockland to Westchester? The same can be said about last year’s proposed cutting and then saved Bee Line Express Bus Route to NYC.

Republicans and Democrats agreed on a few areas, in particular, money for Cornell Cooperative Extension; $49,000 for Greenburgh Nature Center; $59,790 for business training; $42,500 for the Jewish Council and four positions with the Board of Elections.

I agree with CE Astorino’ goal of reductions to the budget. There seems to be an awful lot of excess in certain places. However, it seems like both years he’s gone after the same cuts for the same reasons. And the legislature restores the same cuts he proposes. Is this what our government representatives see as good government? It appears to be their preordained deadlock. I and others are amazed at comments like the one County Legislature Leader Ken Jenkins made when he said, “The budget is done. The problem is not with the legislature. The majority of things we do, we do unanimously.” With about 15,000 budget items, Jenkins said most were supported by both the board and executive branch and that they disagreed on only 27 items, with 40 overrides, including some not directly tied to the budget. Of the 27 budget vetoes, 19 were overridden along party lines. Was it just something they did because they could or are these items of real value to the county? We can’t really know the accuracy of what each side says because each side blames the other, abandoning the public at the sidelines. This type of partisanship has to stop.

There are four legislators not returning this January either because they are simply stepping down or lost in the last election. These are all democratic Legislators, Jose Alvarado, John Nonna, Bill Burton and Marty Rogowsky. I have had dealings with the last three and know them to be concerned, involved and responsive public servants. But they too, have played the partisanship game that I believe the public is so weary of. The last election will increase the Republicans numbers but not enough to put this ship back on an even keel. We need to have better balance, new and different ideas, with better ways of operating our County government. The old ways are failing us. We must have relief from the state induced mandates if Westchester and New York wish to return to any competitive markets again, yet we see no action from them.

Astorino said he expected many of the overrides to his vetoes but it was important to “take principled stands on items” that he thought were detrimental to taxpayers and effective government. Imagine what might happen if the two sides sat down and tried to work together, forging solutions to the budget before it was due? Imagine if, instead of campaigning for their “sides”, they brokered a balanced, effective and realistic solutions that didn’t provide broad-brush sweeping cuts that pit one neighbor against another? Imagine if, instead of playing the partisan games of one-upmanship sound bites in the media, all the representatives actually represented us and created a budget that held or reduced the dollars taken from the County’s beleaguered and abused tax payers? Imagine how much better off everyone might be?

CE Astorino may be on the right track. He wanted to have a one percent tax reduction last year when he proposed his first budget. The County Legislature trumped him and offered a two percent reduction and kept all the positions he sought to eliminate. This year was almost an exact duplication of his efforts with the similar actions taken by his presumed “adversaries”. Imagine if he and his people had worked closely with the legislature before the budget was introduced? That would have caused everyone to take notice of a sharply honed representative government in action! If the CE can only offer cuts of one nature, and the legislature can only offer to override them, how much longer before the public says enough? The CE and the Board of Legislators may respectively have some good ideas. But until we see true collaboration, an honest joining of forces, we are destined for a repeat of the same antics every year. The public is frustrated with these games. I look forward to this new year with local politicians acting and working differently. Let’s see how much better we can do.