WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From Westchester County Department of Communications. (EDITED) November 15, 2004: There will be no increase in the Westchester County property tax levy for next year, under a proposed $1.47 billion spending plan for 2005 unveiled today by County Executive Andy Spano. The budget calls for no new taxes but provides for $17.5 Million increase in new increased Medicaid costs (for a total of $238 Million in 2005).

            “This is a fiscally sound budget that holds the line on property taxes and maintains all existing county services,” said Spano. “With this budget, we also hold the line on bus fares and make no cuts to our non-profit social service and cultural agencies that are so important to the quality of life in Westchester.

            He added, “While the 2005 Medicaid increase is not as high as this year’s, it is still a whopping $17.5 million increase. If  the state had passed legislation (which was supported by counties throughout New York) to cap the increase at the 2004 level,  we could have reduced taxes by three percent. And if we were getting our fair share of state transit aid, similar to other counties, to help pay for our Bee-Line bus system, there could have been an additional tax reduction.”

            “I promise to continue to lobby the state for changes to offset the costs of these programs for Westchester’s property tax payers,” Spano said.

            Westchester County property taxes comprise 16-20 percent of a property owner’s tax bill. The remainder of the tax is levied by school districts, local governments and special districts, such as sewer, water, solid waste and fire. Every $5 million in levy spending is equal to approximately 1 percent on the county tax bill. This year there is no increase in the levy and therefore no tax increase.

            “This budget, along with earlier budgets that I submitted during my first term, further demonstrates that it is state mandates, not county spending, that has caused county property taxes to rise,” Spano said. “More important than reforming the dysfunctional process by which Albany operates is to reform Albany’s practice of  having local property taxpayers pay for state-mandated programs.”

FISCAL PRESSURES CONTINUE

• The cost to the county of state and federally mandated programs continues to soar.  Of this, the greatest increase -- $17.5 million -- will be in Medicaid. Medicaid will cost Westchester  taxpayers $238 million in 2005. Budgeted Medicaid expenditures have increased 73 percent – or $100.7 million --  since 1998.

• Other mandated programs include Social Service accounts, which will be up $5.4 million, and  Services for Children with Disabilities, which will be up $3.5 million.

• Bee-line bus costs are up $9.2 million over 2004. In contrast, state transportation aid  is the same as it was in 1998. Despite this, the county is not raising bus fares or cutting bus service.

STREAMLINING OF GOVERNMENT CONTINUES

• Spano’s budget would  abolish 37 vacant positions, bringing to 437 – or almost 9 percent of the workforce -- the total number of positions abolished over the last seven years since Spano took office.  The reductions for 2005 will save an additional  $2,738,000  The cumulative  savings from these cuts since 1998 are $32.7 million. This takes into account an increase of 52 positions in Public Safety and Emergency Services as a result of September 11, as well as 4 new positions in Human Rights and 8 in Solid Waste.    

• Overtime has been reduced further for the Department of Correction. For next year, the saving will be an additional $4 million, on top of the $6.2 million in savings implemented in previous years. This has been accomplished with the closing of the women’s jail and the creation of a new women’s unit as well as the a reduction of the number of correction officers who are on paid disability leave.

• Westchester will save $3.8 million of what would have otherwise been a $9 million increase in the cost of health insurance for employees, thanks to new union contracts negotiated by the county.
  
  
• The county outsourced the employment services for Social Service to the Yonkers Chamber of Commerce, at a savings of $1 million, while providing better services to our customers.

• Dental clinics in the Department of Health that provided services to children have been closed, with services provided elsewhere. This has saved $264,000.

• Westchester will save $212,000 because it implemented a credit card bail system at the jail, which has reduced by 1,325 the collective number of days prisoners are kept in custody.

•  Administrative costs continue to be reduced, to $5.8 million for next year.  In 1999, $14.3 million was spent on these costs, associated with such departments as Budget, Human Resources, Finance, Information Technology, Law, Planning.

• The size of the county’s motor pool is further decreased by 20 vehicles, for a savings of $250,000 in addition to the previous reduction of 17, for a total savings of $465,000.

• The budget continues  various policies that have been implemented over the last 7 years to eliminate duplication of services, to cut back on travel expenses and to implement new technologies that make government more efficient.

REVENUES

• The county tax levy – the actual amount the county takes in in property taxes – will remain at $479.3 million.

• New revenues enacted earlier this year (the increases in the sales tax,  auto use tax and mortgage tax) will add $15.9 million in revenue. Sales tax revenue for 2005 is projected at $330 million for next year.

• State and federal government aid amounts to $378.9 million, or 27 .2 percent of all revenues for 2005. This is down from 30.3 percent 1998.

•  Due to the improved financial condition of the Westchester Medical Center, the budget includes  the $10 million in revenue for services supplied by the county and paid for by the hospital. This revenue had been deferred for the past two years.