Suffolk deputies to patrol LIE until '17

Suffolk sheriffs deputies will continue patrolling the Long Island Expressway and Sunrise Highway until 2017 under an agreement ratified this week, county and union officials said.

Under the agreement, ratified by the Suffolk County Deputy Sheriffs union on Monday and announced Thursday, the deputies agreed to defer $4 million of the $8 million in arbitration-awarded pay raises due this year until the end of 2015.

The agreement, which does not require legislative approval, would give deputies a measure of job security that their duties would not be shifted to other law enforcement agencies. Mike Rando, the union's vice president, said the agreement "protects every job function in a difficult time."

For Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, the deal ensures the continuation of one of his main policy accomplishments -- the shift of highway patrol duties from county police to lesser-paid deputies in a controversial 2008 cost-cutting move -- until after he leaves office at the end of the year.

Levy announced in March that he will not to run for re-election after prosecutors raised questions about his campaign financing.The deal with the deputy sheriffs brought strong words from the Suffolk Police union, which had hoped to regain jurisdiction over the two state highways. Suffolk police union vice president Noel DiGerolamo said he hadn't seen the agreement, but said, "If there is an agreement and it's shown to be true, then it proves the deputy sheriffs union is nothing more than a predator union who will seek other unions' work."

Sheriffs union officials did not return a call about DiGerolamo's comments.

An administrative law judge in October turned down a union appeal. The PBA had said Levy violated state law by unilaterally disbanding the highway patrol division, a move that reduced officers' overtime and seniority.

Richard Schaffer, a spokesman for Steve Bellone, the Babylon supervisor and Democratic candidate for executive, also questioned whether Levy should "lock in the next executive." The police union has endorsed Bellone.

Republican candidate and county Treasurer Angie Carpenter was not available for comment.

In a statement, Levy said the agreement is a "double-win for the taxpayer, providing $4 million in immediate relief and saving tens of millions more by keeping the Deputy Sheriffs on these two state roads." In the latest of a back-and-forth this week over the county's budget, Levy attacked Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) for making a procedural motion to hold a public hearing Oct. 11 to consider drawing up to $40 million from the county's $60 million reserve fund. Levy called the idea of drawing from county reserves "a very dangerous and irresponsible piece of resolution," saying it would hurt the county's bond rating.

Levy also criticized the idea of dipping into reserves to prevent layoffs. He is proposing 709 layoffs unless union members agree to concessions, including paying a share of their health insurance.Lindsay said he set the hearing only to preserve the option of dipping into reserves to avoid the 709 layoffs Levy proposes.He said lawmakers have not made any decisions, but "I will consider anything to not lay off 700 people."

"It's like having money in the bank when your kids are starving," he said.