April 18 (Reuters) – About 440 public workers for Suffolk
County, New York, will soon be laid off, officials said o n
We dnesday, one of a series of harsh measures needed to fix
severe fiscal problems in the Long Island county.
The plan to shrink the county’s workforce was devised by
former County Executive Steve Levy, a Republican who included
the measure in the current 2012 budget that the new county
executive inherited upon taking office.
Levy’s successor, Democrat Steve Bellone, commissioned a
panel that estimated the county had a $530 million three-year
deficit. That prompted him to declare a fiscal emergency.
Suffolk County, on Long Island’s eastern half, had been
known more for beach communities that draw the world’s wealthy
in summer than for its fiscal headaches.
Michael Pitcher, a spokesman for the Democratic presiding
officer of the county legislature, William Lindsay, said layoff
notices could go out as soon as Monday.
Individuals with seniority whose jobs are cut have the right
to return to a previous position – if it still exists – which
means the layoffs will be concentrated among younger and less
well-paid workers.
Another 200 public servants could lose their jobs if Bellone
adopts his predecessor’s plan to sell the John J. Foley Skilled
Nursing Facility, officials said.
Bellone is to deliver his first State of the County address
on Wednesday evening, about a month or so after credit r ating
a gencies began raising concerns about the county’s three-year
deficit, which runs from 2011 to 2013.
Moody’s Investors Services cut the county’s credit rating
two notches to A1, while Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services
warned it might cut the county’s AA rating.
On Tuesday, Bellone cut next year’s capital budget by 21
percent despite the risk that such reductions could limit
economic growth and job creation..
Suffolk County plans to raise cash next week by selling $85
million of revenue anticipation notes that will be repaid with
state and federal aid.
In early April, Bellone and the legislature proposed a plan
to cut the deficit by more than $162 million through a variety
of measures.
Next year, the county’s pension fund contribution is $180
million, Pitcher said, and the plan would lengthen the time
period over which that sum must be paid to save $66 million.
The state comptroller has devised this way of allowing
cash-poor counties, cities and towns to avoid having to make
their entire pension contribution due in one year.
Suffolk County’s deficit-cutting plan would raise a total of
$29.5 million in 2012 and 2013 by creating a traffic violations
bureau, Pitcher said. Adding 50 more cameras to photograph
motorists who drive through red lights would raise $7 million,
he said.
The full plan, which includes more reductions in expenses
and efficiency measures, would still leave the county with a gap
of more than $368 million.
Another plan to reduce the deficit further is expected to be
unveiled in the coming weeks.
(Reporting By Joan Gralla; Additional reporting by Tiziana
Barghini; Editing by Dan Grebler)
