The combination of COVID-19 and the recently enacted New York state budget is creating probably the most difficult time in recent history (definitely in my 40 year County career) for County government.

The County is currently working with a 50 percent reduction to its non-essential workforce as per Governor Cuomo’s Executive order of March 16. Earlier this week the Governor extended this order through at least April 29. Approximately 310 (non-essential) employees have been sent home on paid furlough.  The other half (essential) continue to run most of the County operations on a minimal basis.  Every County department, excluding the Nursing Home, has been effected by the furloughs. Those continuing to work are being compensated an extra paid leave day per 2 week payroll period for their additional workload.

I need to emphasize, that in the midst of the current fiscal crisis, with the multitude of layoffs in the private sector, all County employees are extremely fortunate and thankful to be able to maintain their jobs and benefits.

We continue to have “Zoom” teleconference meetings (social distancing) with all the department heads and members of the Board of Supervisors 3 times a week.  The COVID-19 crisis is very fluid and directives change daily so it is very important to keep everyone informed with up-to-date information.

Six of the committees of the Board of Supervisors met this week via “ZOOM” and one is scheduled for next week. The Board of Supervisors meeting scheduled for April 21 will also take place via “ZOOM.” County IT Director Matt Ury and his staff have been instrumental in getting the County up and running with this technology, which will be the way of doing business for the unforeseeable future.

Also, I would be remiss in not thanking Board Chairman Ken Miller and the entire Board of Supervisors for their strong leadership during this crisis.

The newly enacted state budget is going to bring a great deal of uncertainty to County operations.

Here is the County impact summary:

After a long arduous fight, our state legislators, including Senator Pam Helming and Assemblyman Brian Manktelow, were able to fend off the Governors strong desire to remove the cap on the amount of monies counties contribute to the Medicaid program.  The removal of the cap would have cost Wayne County taxpayers an additional $3-5 million annually. In place of the Medicaid cap removal though, the Governor was successful in implementing a “Fiscally Distressed Hospital and Nursing Home Pool.” The purpose of this new state mandated fund is to help fiscally distressed health care facilities and will be partially funded through the diversion of county and New York City sales tax monies. The total amount of sales tax money to be diverted is $50 million from the counties outside New York City. Wayne County’s portion of diverted sales tax is estimated approximately $300 thousand annually for a two year period.  This is in addition to the current annual diversion of $700 thousand of Wayne County’s sales tax that goes to fund the state’s Aid and Incentive to Municipalities program for towns and villages.

The Enacted Budget also allows the state budget director to adjust payments in the form of grants and other operating aid to localities if the state’s Financial Plan is out of balance by more than one percent during any measurement period. These measurement periods occur three times a year. Basically, the Governor’s Office will have the discretionary authority to make spending cuts as necessary to bring the state’s Financial Plan back into balance. The Governor is currently anticipating a revenue shortfall between $10 billion and $15 billion for the 2020-21 state fiscal year. If this projection is accurate, then state aid provided to counties, local governments and all others that receive state reimbursements, aid or grants could see about a 15 percent reduction for the year. There are three areas protected from state cuts, one of which is public assistance payment for families and individuals  Needless to say, in light of the heavy losses in sales tax revenue coming to the County, any cuts in the form of grants, reimbursements or other aid would be devastating to the County.

The state budget also calls for cuts to Community Colleges. Counties are mandated to contribute a portion of each enrolled students tuition from their home county. Counties will be forced to make up the difference from the state cuts. Also, each county will see an estimated 20 to 30 percent increase in retirement contributions to the New York State Retirement System.

This is all on top of what can only be expected to be a huge decline in sales tax revenue because of the large number of businesses being closed. The County has also been placed in a precarious situation with numerous grant projects having been approved by the state but not knowing if state funding will be reduced or eliminated.

Wayne County is currently in a sound fiscal condition; however, is preparing for the inevitable storm.  County department heads have been reminded of the projected revenue shortfalls and have been instructed to prepare accordingly.  County budget formulation starts in June and hopefully more solid projections will be available along with a turn-around in the economy.

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