Brookhaven urged against cuts in budget

If Brookhaven's town budget were a pie, many of those at the table would be demanding a bigger slice.

Unfortunately, town officials say, there's only so much to go around.

Representatives from the town's employees, local nonprofit groups, and youth services agencies decried cuts to their funding in the proposed $260 million budget at a hearing last week.

Meryl Cassidy, executive director of Response of Suffolk County, a mental health and suicide hotline, spoke of the many lives saved by her organization's services. "With all of my heart, please reconsider these drastic cuts," she told the board Thursday.

"You don't have to convince us these are good programs," said Councilman Tim Mazzei. "We have a pie, and if we put something into the pie, then we have to take it away somewhere else," Mazzei said.

The budget, proposed by town supervisor Mark Lesko, avoids raising taxes but trims funding for part-time staff and slashes the youth services budget by $500,000.

The average single-family homeowner would pay $630.33, the same as the previous year, under this budget.

Lesko has said the service cuts in the budget were inevitable and an issue he raised before unveiling the budget in September.

Cassidy said the budget was "disproportionately unfair" to youth service programs. Her organization, which received $24,767 in town funding this year, is looking at a 57 percent reduction in funding to $10,670.

Councilwoman Kathy Walsh said the agencies should be prepared to seek grants and funding from other sources, given the town's finances. "We can't carry all the agencies ourselves. We do need to have the agencies look into additional fundraising resources," she said.

Children and teenagers from many of the affected youth agencies packed the hearing.

But one of the most prominent speakers was Victoria Ruvolo, the Ronkonkoma woman whose life was altered when a teenager tossed a turkey through her windshield in 2004 and shattered her face. She publicly forgave the culprit and advocated for his receiving a minimal prison sentence.

Ruvolo has since become very active with youth agencies and came to the Brookhaven hearing to speak on their behalf.

"I believe all the youth agencies don't deserve to be cut," she said. "They're a critical piece."The town board has voted to accept the preliminary budget, and the next vote -- to adopt the budget -- is scheduled for Thursday.