Suffolk Pays Off Sale Leaseback Of H. Lee Dennison Building In Hauppauge

HAUPPAUGE, NY — Suffolk County paid off the sale leaseback of the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge, and the Suffolk County Judicial Facilities Agency will be dissolved at the end of the year, Executive Steve Bellone announced Wednesday.

Suffolk County was in "financial free fall" when Bellone took office in 2012, the county stated. The county faced an estimated accumulated budget deficit of $500 million and a $200 million budget gap, it wrote. The sale leaseback of the H. Lee Dennison Building was one "stop gap measure" to help secure the county's finances.

In 2013, the Suffolk Judicial Facilities Agency (JFA) bought the building from the county for $70 million and paid for it by selling bonds to investors, the county stated. The county then made rental payments to repay the bonds. It was initially set to regain ownership in 2023. It paid off the sale leaseback 10 years early. The JFA will be dissolved on Dec. 31.

The county called it a "clear sign of strong financial footing" in Suffolk.

"I can say with absolute certainty that Suffolk County is in the best financial condition it ever has been," Bellone said in a news release. "A county that faced a $500 million accumulated deficit eliminated that deficit entirely, and now has $1 billion dollars of reserves, all of which was done without placing an unfair burden on taxpayers. The early payoff of the sale leaseback is a great example of how far we have come as a government in eliminating the financial disaster my administration inherited. Working cooperatively with the County Legislature, we have transformed the county from a weak position to a rock-solid financial foundation. Because of the sensible fiscal reforms and tough decisions we made to protect taxpayers, the county is now set up for long term financial success."

Over the past 12 years, Bellone said he took steps to improve the county's finances, including:

• Reducing the size of government by 1,200 full-time positions, saving more than $100 million per year.
• Merging the county comptroller and treasurer offices, as well as the county departments of economic development and planning.
• Selling the county-run Foley Nursing Home and privatizing county health centers, providing accumulated savings to date for taxpayers of more than $100 million.
• Countywide healthcare cost agreement with all county unions; plan changes have resulted in cumulative savings of more than $200 million and substantially slowed expense growth rates.
• County employees to contribute towards health insurance costs.
• Voluntarily slashing and freezing his own salary, saving taxpayers more than $300,000.

The county's 2024 budget maintains the structural balance it reached in 2019. The 2024 budget, for the 12th straight year, includes no increase in general fund property taxes and no tax increase in police district taxes for the third year, the county wrote.

The county has more than $1 billion in reserves to protect taxpayers against a future downturn in the economy, the county stated.