Putnam Lawmakers Reject Big Parts Of Byrne's 1st Budget Plan

PUTNAM COUNTY, NY — Putnam lawmakers rejected two key elements of County Executive Kevin Byrne's tentative budget during a meeting of the budget and finance committee last week.

When he presented his spending plan to the Legislature Oct. 5, Byrne said it included no merit increase or cost-of-living adjustment for elected officials including the district attorney, the county clerk, the county sheriff and himself. "That doesn’t mean these officials aren’t doing a remarkable job or are not deserving, it simply means we are taking steps, leading by example, to demonstrate fiscal discipline at a time when so many of our residents are struggling," he said.

The legislators added 2.75 "cost-of-living" raises for the sheriff, the county clerk, the county coroners and themselves on Thursday night during their meeting as the Budget and Finance Committee. A proposal to hold the raises in a sub-contingency category until the county reached contract agreements with four unions was dismissed as "preposterous" and defeated by a vote of 5-4.

They also added back a position in the Sheriff's Office that had been cut from the budget during Sheriff Robert Langley's administration.

The lawmakers did cut two initiatives that formed a keystone of Byrne's spending plan, the first of his administration.

Byrne proposed the Community Assistance and Municipal Partnership initiatives, mechanisms for supporting Putnam's municipalities and non-profits with funding their own projects in an open, merit-based fashion. "We cannot take politics completely out of what is an inherently political process, but we can make it cleaner, fairer and more objective," he said.

Byrne said he has long opposed the "winners and losers" method of choosing which nonprofits to support with taxpayer money.

The Community Assistance Initiative would have awarded funding on a competitive basis to nonprofits whose projects align with the county's goals and budget priorities.

The Municipal Partnership Initiative would have supported local plans by towns, villages and special districts that champion community development with public facilities improvements, encourage environmental sustainability, revitalize areas for economic growth, or provide other general shared services that result in efficiencies, improvements or tax reductions. It would also encourage municipalities to work together on projects that might require larger sums of money and which encourage economic growth and are strategically aligned with the county's goals.

The lawmakers said cutting the $500,000 allocated to the initiatives would cover the cost of the new civil sergeant and the raises, plus allow them to make an even greater reduction in the property tax rate increase than Byrne had proposed — which was the lowest property tax rate for Putnam in 15 years.

The county property tax accounts for about 9 percent of the average Putnam homeowner's annual property taxes. Putnam County spends less per person on municipal services than almost any other county in the Hudson Valley.

Byrne's budget plan cut spending for his office, the health department, the legislature and the sheriff's department.

The lawmakers' schedule is to adopt a budget by Oct. 31.