Talking 'Catastrophic' Budget Cuts, Some Lawmakers Blast Bellone

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — The Suffolk County Legislature met Monday to vote on amendments to Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone's proposed 2021 $3.2 billion operating budget.

And while some some lawmakers said the federal government needed to step up and help in the face of the pandemic, others said they believed that Bellone, and not the federal government, was to blame for cuts that hurt "the poorest of the poor."

Bellone's budget as proposed includes 500 staffing cuts and other measures including slashes to bus service, public safety and contract agencies including mental and public health programs. Bellone has said although the budget goes into effect on January 1, those cuts would take place on July 1, to give the the federal government time to come through with relief he has cried out for since July, stating that the pandemic was a natural disaster and the federal government needed to step up with aid in light of a "cataclysmic" $1.5 billion shortfall.

On Monday, the Legislature did not vote on the budget: Referring to a media report that said they would be allowing the budget to pass without a vote, Presiding Officer Robert Calarco said an article in Newsday Monday had caused some "confusion."

The legislature does not vote on the county executive's budget, he said. The legislature has the authority to propose amendments to every budget put forth by the county executive, he said. If the amendments do not pass, the budget as put forth by Bellone would move forward and become enacted as pitched.

After voting on the amendments, Bellone has 36 hours to review them and veto them, officials said.

To that end, the legislature’s bipartisan operating budget working group put forth a number of standalone amendments to the county executive’s operating budget proposal.

One of the proposed amendments involved the addition of a resolve clause stating that any additional federal or state aid be used to avoid layoffs, provided that the revenue is not dedicated to specific programs or otherwise needed to balance the budget; that measure passed.

The rest of the amendments were largely technical corrections.

“The legislature’s working group decided not to make any major changes to the proposed operating budget given the fiscal challenges brought on by the pandemic,” said Calarco. “While we do not necessarily endorse the proposed cuts, it is clear that without federal assistance it will be very difficult to avoid drastic impacts to vital services and aid to organizations. A boost from Washington is critical to our recovery efforts and to protecting the social and emergency services people are relying on to get them through this pandemic. We are hopeful that the federal government will deliver for municipalities in the next few months.”

Some legislators also proposed amendments separate from those proposed by the working group. Legislator Tom Cilmi has put forward two additional amendments, including one to increase funding for permanent salaries in audit and control by $480,000, which did not pass, due to the objections of some that it was not fair, and could be seen as "favoritism," according to Legislator Susan Berland, to save jobs in one department when so many cuts were being proposed overall.

A separate amendment from East End Legislators Al Krupski and Bridget Fleming added a resolve clause stating that any unbudgeted revenue from the state or federal governments dedicated for public safety be distributed to the Suffolk County Police District, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office, and local law enforcement agencies outside of the county police district with parity, provided that the revenue is not dedicated to specific programs.

According to Krupski, over the past year, all non-county, including East End, police departments have been hit hard by cuts; the amendment would aim to bring revenue sharing for non-county police districts close to a level seen last year. Last year, that amount was $9.6 million; this year, it was cut to 4.6 million to $5 million, or a 48 percent decrease. The amendment passed.

All proposed budget amendments can be found here.

"While the Suffolk County Legislature is not making any major changes to the proposed operating budget at today’s general meeting, I want to make it crystal clear that this is not the last time we will consider this budget," Fleming said. "It is very important to note that none of the cuts are scheduled to go into effect before we will revisit the budget and offer amendments. The proposed cuts are not acceptable and it is my position that we need to fight like crazy to convince the federal government to stop stalling and offer a stimulus package and the support that local governments need to stay afloat.”

Not everyone agreed that the federal government was to blame. Republican Legislator Rob Trotta and has publicly accused Bellone of a "litany of things that happened before anybody ever heard of coronavirus," including "$300 million he took from the pension fund, $200 million from the Clean Water Fund" and the sale in 2014 of the H. Lee Dennison building, he said.

"This is the giant fraud on the taxpayers of this county," Trotta said. "There was no plan for a rainy day. We were giving out raises in the middle of a pandemic...This is eight years of mismanagement."

Suffolk County Legislator Rudy Sunderman agreed. "The bottom line in response to his budget is that there is no doubt that we are in challenging fiscal times today due to COVID — and prior, as a result of many things, including lack of control over expenses."

Revenue gleaned through sales tax increases should have been put away so "in desperate times we didn't have to take desperate measures," Sunderman said. "That didn't happen."

With sales tax revenue shortfalls, the county could be down $150 million, plus other deficits that could add up to $220 million, Sunderman said. "But we received $284 million plus from the federal government. So the fiscal challenges that are built into the proposed 2021 budget are not challenges that relate specifically to COVID or the absence of federal aid."

He added that "belt tightening" must continue. "We cannot rely on additional federal help, no matter who the president is," he said. "We have to rely on improving the economy and ensuring we don't have additional shutdowns."

Suffolk County Legislator Anthony Piccirillo took aim at Bellone's proposed cuts to contracted mental health services at a time when the pandemic has sparked an uptick in addiction. He also blasted Bellone's cuts to police.

"Before the pandemic, 48 percent of people in Suffolk County couldn't afford a $500 emergency; since then, that number is 51 percent," he said. Also, he added, 100,000 in Suffolk County are struggling with food insecurity. There are 9,000 homes "in distress" and facing foreclosure, Piccirillo said; as of January 1, "that number could double," he said. "This is a three-to-four year problem with a federal bailout or not. The way we spend money here that money will evaporate before it hits anyone's hand... We are going to face bankruptcy. Look what happened in Detroit. We really need to go in a different direction."

Piccirillo also spoke of how hard hit restaurant workers and bartenders will be with another shutdown. "This is bipartisan incompetence. These cuts hurt the poorest of the poor," he said.

For months, Bellone has been pleading with the federal government for disaster relief after the coronavirus left Suffolk County's budget with a potentially "cataclysmic" shortfall of $1.5 billion.

Bellone said in September that Suffolk County would have no choice but to make "catastrophic" budget cuts to police, public safety services and emergency response personnel without significant federal disaster assistance.

Through "federal inaction," Suffolk County will be forced to eliminate hiring 200 police officers and remove school resource officers, he said.

The cuts will total about $20 million in slashed police budgets, a representative for Bellone said.

During a press briefing, Bellone asked President Donald Trump to call upon U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to pass a federal disaster assistance bill.

Bellone said during the coronavirus pandemic, the county has been "up and down the mountain, faced death and devastation."

As he submitted the county's budget, Bellone said, "The federal government still has not acted."

The Suffolk County Police Academy in Yaphank could "effectively be shuttered" for the next year and a half — with 200 fewer officers on the street, he said.

The school resource officer program would be suspended and the community support unit redeployed, Bellone said; aid to local law enforcement partners would also be cut.

Suffolk County is one of the safest in the nation, with its lowest crime rates in recorded history, Bellone said. "This is not by accident. It's because of the police officers who come out of this academy," he said.

He pointed to efforts made toward community policing and diversity and said those efforts would be undermined by federal inaction.

"They are effectively defunding the police. They are effectively defunding suburbia," Bellone said.

Disaster relief, he said, is not a partisan issue. "This has nothing to do with partisan bickering and it shouldn't," he said. The main concern is that residents receive the funding necessary to recover as a region, Bellone said.

Bellone had a message for Washington: "Don't defund the police. Don't defund suburbia. Mr. President, we need your help. We are now at the point where rubber meets the road and it's time for action."