Consolidation. The Buzzword That Never Quits

The County recently held it’s Shared Services Day (off) at the County Center. The previous post details much of it. It appears County Executive Rob Astorino has finally taken a page from Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, repeatedly holding press conferences as often as possible, usually saying nothing of value. Rather, he continues to beat the drum about how destitute our County is and that he’s the poor whipping boy of the big bad legislature. He’s spoken about consolidation of services throughout the County; a partnership between the Towns and Villages and the County. Actually, he’s only offering police protection through a consolidation with the County Police. Do we even need the County police?

They patrol the parkways, operate the bomb squad, and provide guards at county office buildings and county courts. They’re only a partial police department when you get down to it. Plus, last years budget was $38 million for 345 people. The patrol and bomb squad positions could be taken over with consolidation with the state police - saving the County taxpayers more salary and benefits money. The guards at the office buildings could be outsourced to a private agency - eliminating the benefits and medical expenses currently choking our taxpayers. Astorino maintains communities could save money by allowing the County to take on some of the services they already provide, unburdening the locales of costs the County already has. Why wouldn’t we want to do the same thing with the County and New York State? We’d still be paying taxes but would be paying less for it as it’s spread throughout the state populace.

The County government has heard both extremes from the public; they should do more for us or they should be abolished. Most of the “for” argument comes from the County Legislature, their employees and those with “skin in the game”. ABG believes they may be correct to a degree when they say that we need County government due to laws, policies in place and certain services that are currently provided by them. The County runs our penal system here in Westchester; they manage the Department of Social Services and all the “arms” dangling from it; and are involved with our water supply systems. But could the County consolidate what they do with what the state does? It sure seems possible since they both do social services, penal systems, and water.

The people who say do away with County government, Supervisor Feiner being one of them, never offer any real solutions as to how to eliminate County government. In fact, The Paul even suggested reducing the amount of county legislators, as well as offering to have a Supervisor-based representation for the County. Why would he suggest this? Because if we move to a Supervisor-based system, he would be the supervisor representing the largest town and have the most, if not all, of the leadership strength of the group. Are the failed policies we see in Greenburgh, the scads of lawsuits and guilty verdicts against the Supervisor and the Town for discrimination et al, what we want to see at a County level? ABG doesn’t think so.

So, what’s the solution(s)?

First, stop the partisan politics that has existed for years! It’s important for us to elect representatives that will create a balance in the legislature of thinkers, not willing to vote the party line simply to play the Republican or Democrat “game.” We’ve seen what that does and don’t like it. Unfortunately, all the Republican candidates say they will vote with Astorino and break the stranglehold in the legislature. That’s exactly what we’re saying we don’t need. We need legislators with backbone - willing to stand up to the party hacks who demand partisanship decisions and votes.

Second, we need to have real communication with give and take between the Executive and Legislative branches. What we don’t need is this ‘tit-for-tat’ mentality. Its childish and it doesn’t work.

Third, the County needs to stop trying to expand itself. Yes, there are responsibilities the County has to satisfy. But instead of trying to grow itself and create a larger entity, trying to prove their value, they should try to constrain and even reduce themselves. That will save taxpayers money. There may truly be room for consolidation in the Town, County and State, but there needs to be an honest appraisal, serious planning and execution with all the stakeholders, not just one side or another. It’s why Paul Feiner, the king of off-the-cuff comments, starts grasping wildly at consolidation, offering nothing, doing everyone a disservice.

Fourth, there are plans, under the guise of consolidation, to dismantle the Westchester County Richard A. Flynn Fire Training Center in Valhalla and put them under the control of the County Police. The fire training center was the successful culmination of the volunteer fire departments efforts throughout Westchester County to be able to train specifically for fire. They realized the need to be separate from the police. They had been begrudgingly housed in the basement of the County Police headquarters many years ago. They recognized, as did the County Legislators at the time, that both organizations provided different services, even though they are both emergency responders. They need to be separate and they each need their own space for training. Creating a Department of Public Safety and taking the fire units over will only avail more grant monies to the County Police, bloat their organization, and render the firematic-side to the back seat of the police car. You know, where they put the suspects.

Fifth, develop real term-limits for not only the legislators, but others who receive appointments by them. And,  remove their lifetime benefits after they leave office or the position!

Sixth, renegotiate the union contracts when they come up for renewal and put some serious measures in place that won’t overburden the taxpayers again. When you took a job in the public sector years ago, you knew your salary wouldn’t be great but you also knew you had a retirement pension and great medical benefits. Then the teachers unions complained about being underpaid, their song and dance was picked up by the other unions and expanded. We were told we needed to pay more to get good people. ABG thinks you don’t. Nobody is twisting anyone’s arm to work in the public sector, so take it or leave it. We will still get good people.

Seventh, reduce the burdensome rules and regulations, fees and penalties that keep businesses from reinvesting in themselves. We could have a vibrant local economy in Greenburgh and Westchester County that thrives if government would just get out of the way. Unfortunately, the Greenburgh Town Board continuously seeks news ways to impose and raise fees on business. It’s obscene.

Eighth, Astorino always decries that the County should not be in the Amusement Park business. Maybe so. What parks in Westchester County turn a profit? For that matter, should we be in the airport business?

There are more things that can be done. In fact, this post generated some heated discussions in our office about what can, should and will be done. But the underlying agreement was that government at the County level should not be expanding. Rather, it should be shrinking. Will it? We can dream, can’t we?