Coronavirus Fallout: County Seeks To Mitigate Budget Shortfall

WHITE PLAINS, NY — Faced with a massive budget gap because of the societal shutdown from the new coronavirus crisis, Westchester County is looking to take steps to at least mitigate some of the loss of revenue. At his Wednesday news conference, County Executive George Latimer spelled out the scope of the problem and offered some solutions, including a reduction in the workforce.

"The financial issue is real and is significant," he said, adding that many local governments are in the same situation.

"When you see a problem like this, that is universal," Latimer said, "you realize we are in this together. But that is not a solution."

In December, the county passed a $2.1 billion spending package that trimmed the tax levy and set aside $10 million to put into a cash reserve fund.

Latimer said, in January and February, that the county was on track to meet projected revenues, but that changed in middle of March when businesses were closed because of the pandemic.

"The revenue stream was impacted dramatically by the closing of all stores" and other businesses that collected sales tax, he said.

In April, the county estimated it would be off between $180 million to $250 million in revenue, depending on when society reopens and comes back fully.

Latimer said the loss of sales tax revenue would be between $100 million to $130 million; loss of state funding, $70 million to $100 million; loss of federal funding, $7 million; and loss of other revenue, $4 million to $10 million.

To offset some of that loss, the county made $21.2 million in reduction in expenses in April.

Latimer said that the county will, in July, reduce correction department expenses by $2.8 million from reduced number of inmates. He said the county will receive $30 million in federal transit aid for the bus system, $4.7 million in enhanced federal Medicaid and $3.8 million from the U.S. Marshals Service.

That brings the savings to $62.5 million, Latimer said, and reduces the budget gap to between $118 million and $188 million.

"It still gives us a large gap," he said.

Rather than looking at layoffs or furloughs, which would further impact the economic downturn in Westchest, Latimer said the county is proposing a voluntary separation program, which would allow some county employees to leave the county workforce in exchange for a $1,000 payment for every year of service.

The move will amount to $1 million to $2 million in savings for 2020 and $6 million to $10 million in 2021, he said.

Latimer called the separation program "a fiscally prudent step the county can take to mitigate the revenue shortfalls created by the virus."

Not eligible to apply for the separation program are elected officials, members of the county's police, correction and district attorney investigator unions, employees facing disciplinary proceedings and Westchester County Community College employees. Also, if the state also enacts some form of separation incentive, an employee must choose between the state incentive and the county incentive.

County employees who wish to participate in the separation program must notify the county by July 24. Payments will be made to participating employees within 75 days of their voluntary separation, which must occur on or before Aug. 1.

Coronavirus Update

Positive cases to date: 34,866
Fatalities to date: 1,425
Active cases: 481; up 1 from Tuesday
Hospitalizations: about 70
Numbers of tests to date: 270,692; up about 4,000 from Tuesday

Below is the map of confirmed and active new coronavirus cases by community.

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