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Partisanship takes a back seat
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April 29, 2009 | 02:22 PM
Partisanship has been trumped in Brookhaven Town by a larger common problem — revenue streams falling like rocks.
According to Finance Commissioner Charlene Kagel, her department has identified a potential $6.6 million shortfall in mortgage tax revenue for 2009 and warns of a possible $2 million decrease in landfill revenue for the year as well. Another $720,000 gap could be brewing in the "B fund," due to smaller receipts from the Building and Planning departments, Kagel told a Town Board work session last Thursday.
As a result, a trio of bills, approved unanimously Tuesday by the seven-member Town Board, will impose hiring restrictions, amend the operating budget by reducing department allotments for 2009 by a cumulative $3.145 million, and reduce overtime across the board by 10 percent. The three budget resolutions were cosponsored by Supervisor Mark Lesko and the candidate he defeated for the post in a March special election, Councilman Tim Mazzei (R-Blue Point), leader of the board's GOP faction.
At a press conference called just prior to Tuesday's regular council meeting, a scenario unthinkable just a month ago unfolded in Town Hall. Lesko, with Mazzei by his side, spoke of the three cosponsored resolutions. The two stood side by side praising each other for cooperation and bipartisanship in addressing the looming budget shortfall. Mazzei particularly thanked Lesko for "including all of us" in the development of the budget reduction plan. "We appreciate that."
Lesko said the "most significant cuts came out of Parks and Waste Management," and expressed his appreciation to those commissioners, Ed Morris and Ed Hubbard, respectively.
The supervisor said service cuts to town residents would not be necessary. "The [budget] cuts will put stress on the work force," Lesko said, "but department heads must manage those cuts and still provide services."
Four of the five other council members stood alongside as Lesko and Mazzei responded to questions about their resolutions. Councilman Keith Romaine (R-Center Moriches) was absent due to a "prior commitment," he said later, but fully supported the resolutions.
Doing his own small part, Lesko announced at the Town Council's work session last Thursday that he would forego the scheduled 2 percent increase in the supervisor's salary this year. The supervisor also took the opportunity to compliment Deputy Supervisor and 3rd District Councilwoman Kathy Walsh (R-Centereach), Mazzei and Kagel for working diligently with him to address Brookhaven's ongoing budget crisis.
Kagel said none of the cuts affect the Highway Department, since its budget revenue is almost entirely garnered from property taxes and thus largely unaffected by the reductions in mortgage tax and landfill revenues.
A "Phase Two" of budget reductions could still be in the offing if revenues continue to fall beyond current projections, according to Kagel. A second round of cuts, possibly to be addressed by the council in mid-July, could include extending or expanding hiring restrictions, seeking "bond refunding savings of $200,000 to $325,000" and implementation of undefined "department fiscal contingency plans," she said last Thursday.
Looking still further, Kagel told the council members of potential 2010 budget actions that included reducing capital spending to save on interest payments made out of the operating budget, continuing employee and spending caps, freezing management wages and tapping into the town's tax stabilization reserve.
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