Levy lashes out at two Schneiderman bills

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, backed by tea party advocates, lashed out at Legis. Jay Schneiderman Monday, saying he had proposed two "taxpayer killing" bills that would handcuff his powers to make budget cuts.

But the Montauk lawmaker, an Independence Party member, called Republican Levy's attack politically motivated and said his proposals are aimed at keeping the legislature's role as county policymakers intact.

Levy criticized Schneiderman's two bills - one which would allow the legislature to amend the operating budget at every meeting, something lawmakers can now do only four times a year. The second would bar the county executive from proposing termination of any county function, service or facility shutdown in his budget unless the legislature approves the change before putting it in the budget.

Levy called both bills "wrongheaded" at a time when the county remains in financial distress that will require a strong manager to take decisive action. "The big problem with the legislature is that they don't want to make the tough decisions.

"They want to kick the can down the road," said Levy. "If we take away the power of the county executive to cut things, why have a county executive?"

However, Schneiderman said there is no budget impact because any amendments need to be accompanied by budget cuts to cover the spending. He added the other measure would keep the county executive from imposing major policy changes, for which he has support of only a minority of lawmakers who can sustain his veto.

"He might not like that, he may want to be a dictator, but we are a coequal branch of government," Schneiderman said.

Levy said $1.2 million in pending amendments, including $652,000 for the ShotSpotter system to pinpoint gunfire in North Bellport and Wyandanch, do not have adequate cuts to cover the costs.

"Every step of the way, legislators seem to stand in the way of the county executive making tough decisions," said Harold Moskowitz, a tea party activist.Schneiderman maintains Levy is trying to cast him as a "big spender" to unseat him in favor of Levy aide Patrick Heaney, former Southampton supervisor, a claim the county executive rejects.