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Legislature Adopts 2009 Decentralized Budget Process
Reinstatement of lifeguards for Veterans Park supported
by Margaret Sternberg
The May 6, 2008 full meeting of the Legislature was notable for what came afterwards: a special meeting of the Budget & Finance Committee during which the only business that was conducted was the adoption of a 2009 decentralized budget process/review that explicitly laid out, within timeframes specified by County Charter, exactly what was expected by the Legislature from the County Executive and from county departments, all of whose budgets will be reviewed line by line by the Legislature in an effort to minimize an expected 2009 property tax increase.
Among many specifics contained within the resolution that outlined procedures the County Executive is to follow, the resolution appears to "re-define" for the County Executive what is meant by "Capital Project," an issue that has come up during the past year during discussions concerning the nature of some work done on county facilities and in other areas as well.
The resolution, in general, appears to require more detail than has historically been given to the Legislature when the annual proposed budget has been submitted for Legislative review. Among numerous procedures, requirements include that the names of all employees who work in more than one department within the county be submitted as will the names of all employees earning overtime, including the amount for 2007 and the overtime for 2008 earned year-to-date.
Another example of the Legislature becoming more involved in the details is that all proposed changes in grades, promotions or reclassifications in position in both management and non-management positions will also be presented as a separate part of the tentative budget, and all current or expected personnel vacancies will be identified either by line item in the budget or in documents throughout the entire budget process.
Legislator Dan Birmingham suggested that the Legislature may want to consider changing the County Charter itself in order to give the Legislature a longer window in which to review and consider the budget before adoption. The Legislature now has five to six weeks to review the entire budget.
Legislators expected that the adoption of the proposal, which passed unanimously, would result in increased budget efficiency and "greatly reduced" cost to the County.
In other business, the Legislature responded to the public outcry when County Executive Bob Bondi announced that the Administration would not be hiring lifeguards for Memorial Park this summer by passing a resolution stating that the lifeguards should "proceed as budgeted," and that the Legislature was not in agreement with the County Executive's decision.
In a brief update of some of the ways in which the county is trying to increase revenue without raising taxes, Legislator Mary Ellen Odell, Chair of The Panel for Fiscal Vision and Accountability, said the committee is considering the implementation of a mortgage tax, which would be a fee that would be included in closing costs a buyer would pay upon buying a property within Putnam County. Legislator Odell said that neighboring counties had instituted the tax and had derived considerable revenue from it. (There is a mortgage tax currently in the county, but all revenues derived from it go directly to the towns and villages. The "new" mortgage tax would be in addition to the existing tax and would go directly to the county.)
The PCN&R subsequently questioned Legislator Odell about the recommendation, noting that County Executive Bondi had two years before proposed a mortgage tax that would go specifically to the County, only to have his recommendation defeated not once, but twice, by the Legislature. When Mr. Bondi overrode the Legislature's first veto, his veto was then overridden by the Legislature. At the time, Mr. Bondi had estimated that the mortgage tax would have added roughly $285,000 in revenue to the county.
Legislator Odell said that the reason the proposal had returned is that "in the last two years, our three neighboring counties had decided to adopt it…and because they've adopted it, we've seen their revenue as a result, and now we can see what we're looking at. It's a little more tangible. Also, at the time, it didn't appear that we were in such a financial…that there was such a huge gap that had to be closed for the next two years. At the time the mortgage tax was put out there, I don't believe that everyone [understood] what a substantial amount of revenue could be captured by implementing it."
Asked whether she thought that the Legislature's response two years before showed a lack of foresight and that an earlier implementation could have helped defray some of the subsequent tax increases, Legislator Odell said that she thought that "there has been, over the years, prior to my tenure, there's been a lot of back and forth, maybe lack of communication…I believe the mortgage tax issue…was probably complicated by the sales tax increase." (Mr. Bondi had also proposed a sales tax increase at the same time, which was defeated by the Legislature, only to be revived by the Legislature months later.)
Legislator Odell continued, "I also believe the County Executive didn't really understand the impact of the mortgage tax itself because…that year he booked $250,000 into the budget….he would not have booked a mere $250,000, he would have booked closer to $2 million."
Legislator Odell said that she was "not interested in revisiting history" and intended to do "whatever it takes so that we have a balanced budget," adding that she was looking at "what was working around us."
Mr. Bondi responded, "Several years ago, I proposed a mortgage tax and the Legislature refused to support it. In fact, I was derided for trying to initiate such a thing. Now look where we are: If we had instituted this tax when I first proposed it, Putnam County would not be in as dire straits as we are today. That being said, I fully support the Legislature in this endeavor and believe that such measures will help Putnam County as we struggle through these difficult economic times."
In the monthly recognition of Putnam notables, Putnam Valley resident and School Board Trustee Frank Reale was chosen to lead the Pledge of Allegiance, his first honor of the evening. He later received a proclamation for "Peers Influence Peers" day, citing his media work with teenagers and schools, started 14-years before, which expanded from a local effort to statewide and now a national broadcast that delivers proactive media messages against alcohol and drug.
The June meeting of the Legislature will be posted on the PCN&R's website as soon as it becomes available.
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