Painful Sullivan tentative budget

Healthcare and days off givebacks versus layoffs

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — The legislators and the unions will likely be asking a couple of tough questions in the near future: is it better to lay off some county workers, or to ask everyone to share the pain with increased healthcare costs and reduced paid days off?

Sullivan County Manager David Fanslau presented a tentative budget for 2010 to county lawmakers on November 15. At slightly more that $191 million the budget is about $100,000 less than the 2009 budget, but because money from sales tax, mortgages and other revenue streams is still so depressed, serious cost-cutting measures are needed to reach a balanced budget.

Fanslau’s budget calls for the elimination of 55 positions that are currently vacant, 46 full-time positions that are staffed, and three staffed part-time positions.

But those positions could be saved if employees and lawmakers agree to some givebacks. Currently, when vacation days, sick days, holidays and personal leave days are all added together, county employees enjoy 41 paid days off each year. One of Fanslau’s recommendations to contain costs is to change 5.5 of those days into unpaid days off. This would save the county $1.1 million per year.

In the arena of healthcare, the amount paid by the employee varies: a third of employees, those who have been there a long time, pay nothing; another third pay a fixed $750 or $950 per year; the remaining third pay 10 percent of the cost of insurance premiums. However, if all county employees agreed to pay 15 percent of healthcare premiums, that would save the county $2.6 million.

If the legislature and the six unions that represent most of the county employees agree to these two givebacks, the county would not need to eliminate the 49 positions that are currently staffed; in other words, no county employee would lose a job.

At this point, it’s not clear how the unions will react to the proposals. Lou Setren, the business manager for Teamsters Local 445, said, “There will probably be a lot of twists and turns before a final budget is reached.”

The property tax

County employees, of course, are not the only people who will be impacted by the budget. The property owners who pay taxes will also feel the impact. Fanslau’s tentative budget calls for a five percent increase in property taxes at the county level. On a home worth $100,000, the increase would amount to about $45 per year.

The legislature must approve a final budget by the end of the year.