Photo credit: Rory Glaeseman | Democratic Westchester County lawmakers blasted Republican County Executive Rob Astorino and his allies on the Board of Legislators on Thursday for neglecting social services three years in a row. (Feb. 27, 2013
Democratic Westchester County lawmakers blasted Republican County Executive Rob Astorino and his allies on the Board of Legislators on Thursday for neglecting social services three years in a row.
"County government is the safety net," Legis. Pete Harckham (D-Katonah) told News12 at a news conference at the county office building in White Plains. "It's not the towns. It's not our faith-based organizations. It's county government."
Since 2009, the year before Astorino took office, funding for social programs has steadily declined or remained level even as tough economic times have forced more people to turn to the county for help, Harckham said.
"The numbers are both sobering and staggering," he said.
The Democrats highlighted how the cost of county-subsidized day care for low-income families has increased by 164 percent. In March 2009, families in the program paid $91 per month on average, they said. Now they pay an average of $240 a month.
"Has anyone's income increased at that level in the past four years?" asked Legis. Alfreda Williams (D-Greenburgh) at the news conference.
Astorino's communications director, Ned McCormack, responded by saying the Democrats' numbers were suspect. No one has access to the confidential records of day care recipients, he said, so he didn't know where they found their supposedly average families.
The Democrats also said the number of homeless families in the county has increased by 40 percent, yet funding for eviction prevention programs has remained level.
But McCormack said the eviction programs have remained level because the county has spent more money on emergency accommodations. "There's no homeless family that presents itself for shelter that doesn't get a place," he said.
Food assistance caseloads have increased by 53 percent, but Republicans blocked Democratic efforts to provide funding to theFood Bank of Westchester and the Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless, Democrats said.
McCormack countered that both nonprofit organizations received $72,000 this year and last at a time when the county budget was facing budget shortfalls.
When Astorino took office in 2010, the county Department of Social Services budget was $542 million, McCormack said. This year, it's projected to be $559 million.
"The county executive's commitment to providing a safety net for our neediest residents has grown every year he has been in office," he said.
Matt Richter, a spokesman for Republican legislators, told News12 that the Democrats' concerns were too little and too late. Last year, when seven Republicans and two breakaway Democratic legislators formed a coalition to pass Astorino's $1.7 billion budget, the eight mainstream Democrats had an opportunity to negotiate. Instead, they boycotted the vote.
"The fact [that] they got up and walked out basically made it impossible for us to work their view into the budget," Richter said.
The coalition did its best to preserve county programs that help the poor, Richter added.
"There is enough money to maintain the social safety net in Westchester County," he said. "Every nonprofit, every state agency is having to do more with less right now, which is difficult."
No comments:
Post a Comment