Suffolk presiding officer, exec face off over budget

Suffolk Legislature Presiding Officer William Lindsay is proposing to use $50 million of the county's rainy day fund to avoid county layoffs next year, but County Executive Steve Levy vowed to veto the measure, warning it will "destroy the county's bond rating."

Lindsay's resolution will go before the legislature's budget committee in Hauppauge Tuesday where even the county executive expects the measure to win initial approval setting up a vote before the full legislature next Tuesday.

"In an ideal world, this is not the way we would choose to go," said Lindsay, defending his proposal. "But we have almost $60 million in the bank and I can't see laying off people and eliminating services if there's money in the account."

But Levy assailed the idea as an "end run" around his budget that would allow lawmakers to indirectly use $20 million to keep open the county nursing home. Levy has proposed in his budget to shut down the facility, laying off about 250 workers.

"This will almost assuredly destroy our historically high bond rating," Levy said. "Our fiscal adviser is indicating that this one-shot raid to prop up recurring losses at the nursing home will sink us with credit rating agencies."

Levy, in his proposed 2011 budget, called for using $30 million of the $98 million "rainy day" fund to help offset the $69.7 million pension spike for the county's general fund employees. Levy's budget would pay the rest of the bill with $23 million from other county general revenue and borrow the remaining $16.7 million over 10 years.

However, Lindsay minimized the bond rating impact, noting, "Nassau has no reserves at all and their bond rating is only one notch below ours." Were a downgrade to occur, he said it might mean about half a percentage point on the interest rate and cost the county about $100,000 a year. Levy declined to estimate the fiscal impact.

Minority Leader Dan Losquadro (R-Shoreham), opposed the idea, saying it would take the reserve fund "far too low" and leave too little buffer if the economy doesn't rebound next year. "It's a Band-Aid that doesn't cure the ill," he said.

Levy vowed to veto the measure if it wins initial approval, and believes he has the seven votes to sustain his veto.