Democratic Legislators Maintain Leadership in Fostering Shared Services, Saving Tax Dollars

White Plains, NY – On the occasion of the “United We Save” Shared Municipal Services Expo ’13 being held today, Democratic members of the Westchester County Board of Legislators pointed with pride today to their success in fostering shared services between the County and various municipalities, saving taxpayer dollars both in the short- and long-term.

The BOL has approved several landmark bills regarding public safety, planning and information technology in recent years to spur the trend toward shared services around Westchester. All told, the BOL has approved 43 different shared services bill in the 2012-2013 legislative term involving senior programs, affordable housing, prisoner transportation, use of the County’s firing range, youth development programs, school resource officers and fire suppression training.

“As municipalities and school districts look for ways to lower costs to taxpayers, the regional government is essential in providing cost-effective, high-quality services that can reduce taxes,” said BOL Chairman Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers). “We will continue to look for more smart solutions in terms of reducing spending to benefit the county’s taxpayers.”

In November 2012 the BOL unanimously approved a bill to will allow the County to enter into inter-municipal agreements (IMAs) with municipalities for full contract police services for municipalities. The new law enables future police service agreements that result in further efficiencies and cost savings for both local taxpayers and governments without incurring additional cost to the County.

Giving municipalities the opportunity to obtain their entire police operations from the County makes sense in so many ways, noted Legislator Catherine Borgia (D-Ossining), chair of the BOL’s Government Operations Committee and a sponsor of the legislation, adding, “There are cost savings to local municipalities because of the economies of scale of the County’s greater pool of staff and equipment to provide a wide realm of police services to contracting municipalities, with greater flexibility of personnel and equipment resources. With future strains on municipal budgets in mind, options for shared services like police operations should be available.”

As Ossining Town Supervisor, Borgia signed a shared police services agreement with the County’s Department of Public Safety in 2010, with BOL Chairman Ken Jenkins leading the approval of the legislation.

Earlier in 2012, the BOLDetails  authorized the County to enter into IMAs with four different villages—Sleepy Hollow, Tarrytown, Tuckahoe and Rye Brook—for assistance in enforcing the Westchester County For-Hire Vehicle Law. As part of the agreement, the four villages will receive 25% of the total penalties collected by the County from issued tickets for violations of the law—a revenue boost for the localities and cost-saver for the County.

Back in 2011, Jenkins and BOL Vice Chair Lyndon Williams spearheaded the effort requiring the County’s Department of Information Technology (IT) to share services with school districts, municipalities and other government agencies. At that time, the BOL heard from the Westchester County Homeowners’ Coalition (WCHC), represented by its Chairman, Derickson K. Lawrence and board member Hugh Marriott, who offered some statistical information about tax components (illustrating the County’s portion of a typical property tax bill is about 13%), the new 2% tax cap law and some recommendations on how municipalities can lower their operating costs. One such WCHC recommendation is to turn some of the County’s technology assets into shared services to help cut costs for municipalities and raise revenues for the County, both of which will result in lower taxes.

“The model of shared services is a win-win idea in a time of unsustainable growth in property taxes,” said Williams. “This will mean new revenue streams for the county and lower operating costs for the municipalities.”  

Surprisingly, given its record of leadership in terms of fostering shared services, no BOL members were invited by the Astorino Administration to address those attending today’s expo.