Westchester County NY Government

Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino thanked the Board of Legislators today for joining him on three of his deficit reduction initiatives – employee contributions to health care, limits on payouts for accumulated sick pay, and cash incentives for voluntary separation from the county workforce.

Following the board's approval of three separate pieces of legislation on Monday night, Astorino said he would sign all three as a way of helping to reduce the county's projected deficit of $166 million in 2011.

"I am happy to see that the Board of Legislators agrees with me that taxpayers are entitled to relief when it comes to the cost of county government," Astorino said. "Every dollar saved on health care contributions, separation incentives, and sick pay reform is a dollar that can be put toward reducing the deficit, preserving essential services, minimizing layoffs and providing much needed relief to taxpayers."

Astorino said that the Board of Legislators' latest health care contribution plan for non-union managerial employees met his criteria for achieving substantial savings. The precedent for having employees contribute to their health care will now be applied to negotiations with the unions.

"The current practice of having employees receive free health insurance was just not sustainable," Astorino said. "This law means Westchester will no longer be one of four counties in New York where the burden of paying for employee health care falls exclusively on the shoulders of taxpayers. That's a giant step forward."

On Jan. 14, Astorino proposed having all non-union managerial employees pay 15 percent of their health care premiums as a way of reducing the cost of government and aligning Westchester County's pay practices more closely to those in the private sector and with other government entities.

On March 15, the Board of Legislators passed an alternative to Astorino's proposal that contained a complicated, six-tier scale that decreased payments based on seniority and exempted 25 percent of non-unionemployees from making any contributions. Calling it "a giant step backwards," Astorino vetoed the plan.

Since then, Republicans and Democrats on the board have worked with the county executive's staff to craft the compromise that was approved Monday night. Though he would have preferred his initial plan, Astorino said the breakthrough came when the board agreed to structure a new three-tier contribution schedule in a way that was broad-based enough to provide significant savings for taxpayers equivalent to his proposal.

"Philosophically, I still would have preferred a straight 15 percent contribution across the board because I think it is better and fairer when all employees are treated equally with everyone paying the same amount for the same benefit," said Astorino. "But at least now the legislation is structured to deliver meaningful savings."

Astorino also thanked the board for passing legislation with regard to his initiatives on scaling back sick pay and giving employees cash incentives to voluntarily leave their jobs with the county.

"Passage of the sick pay and voluntary separation legislation are two more down payments on addressing next year's $166 million projected deficit," said Astorino. "Both are extremely welcome because they can reduce the deficit and minimize layoffs at the same time. Tough decisions lay ahead, so it is important to create a foundation for savings."

The sick-pay proposal from Astorino, and now approved by the legislators, limits to 10 weeks the amount of accumulated sick pay that can be cashed in when an employee leaves county service. Currently the limit is 25 weeks.

The voluntary separation agreement would give eligible full-time employees $1,000 for each year of completed service (maximum $30,000) if they voluntarily leave county government by July 1. It is anticipated that the plan will save between $6.8 million and $19 million annually, depending on the number of employees who participate.