Approximately 70 local residents, business owners and public officials gathered at Somers Middle School last week to discuss a variety of issues with County Executive Rob Astorino.
The event was part of the popular "Ask Astorino" town hall series.
Somers Supervisor Mary Beth Murphy delivered welcoming remarks and introduced the county executive. Astorino then started by providing an overview of the goals of his administration (providing tax relief, preserving essential services and promoting economic growth), the results that have been achieved to date, and the challenges that must be overcome to continue making progress.
View the "Ask Astorino" Powerpoint presentation in pdf format.
Since Astorino took office, the county property tax levy has been reduced by 2 percent and spending has been reduced by 5.2 percent. In the five years prior to Astorino taking office, the county tax levy had increased by 17 percent and spending had skyrocketed by 23 percent.
To continue in this positive direction, Astorino led a bipartisan coalition to pass a $1.7 billion budget for 2013 that did not raise taxes and safeguards the county's reserve fund.
"We're leading and we're making the tough choices," Astorino said. "The first thing I did when I got into office was to reduce my own staff by 19 percent. We wanted to set the right tone and example. We're still the highest taxed county in the entire nation, but now we're heading in the right direction and we are going to continue heading in that direction."
Astorino also provided an update on the status of the 2009 housing settlement with the federal government and his Safer Communities initiative that was created in the wake of the Newtown tragedy to improve school safety, as well as community safety.
Before taking questions, Astorino told the crowd how he often brings his family to Somers to visit Muscoot Farm, one of their favorite places to visit in Westchester.
Questions from the audience included pocketbook concerns such as rising utility rates and pension costs.
In regards to the pension system, Astorino explained that pension costs were the county's second highest unfunded mandate cost from Albany – after Medicaid. He also pointed out a startling fact in describing how the county's pension costs in 2001 were $3.3 million, but this year they have risen to $91 million – a 3,000 percent increase. Astorino said that Albany needs to address this crushing burden immediately.