By JUDY RATTNER
The demonstration was the second in as many weeks, following a Feb. 19 protest by employees of nonprofit agencies that serve at-risk youth. On Monday, over 200 protesters crowded into the Nassau County legislative chamber as lawmakers prepared to consider major program cuts and possible layoffs - measures contained in County Executive Tom Suozzi's plan to close a budget gap that could be $150 million. Hundreds more people filled the lobby, which was converted into an overflow room with a live video feed.
"Our motto is 'Helping people, changing lives,' so how can we help others help themselves if we're not being helped by our own state and local funding sources?" said Aileen Arroyo, director of the Rockville Centre Head Start program. "When are we going to realize that this population is part of Nassau County? We educate our parents and families; we need to continue to receive these funds so that we can continue our family development work with our children and their families. Our teachers do a lot of good work with these kids, and our program in Rockville Centre is fabulous.
"It will be a shame if they cut even one penny from us," Arroyo added. "Those people will lose their jobs, and instead of servicing the community, they'll have to look to receive services themselves, which is ridiculous."
Arroyo explained that the local Head Start program services 49 pre-school children and 61 of their siblings. In addition to the proposed cuts in county funding, her agency, along with others, could also be hit with cuts in annual salary enhancements, a sort of bonus, of $3,500 for teachers and $2,500 for teaching assistants.
If the cuts are approved, the pain would be shared by other Rockville Centre service agencies. "We're getting cut 75 percent of the funding Nassau County gives us," said Art Rosenthal, director of Confide, an alcohol and drug abuse counseling facility. "The funding I receive is not an enormous amount, but it's significant. We get approximately $4,000 a year from the county, and they cut $3,000. It's just that [the loss of that money] is going to create some real hardships.
"There will be more people needing more treatment based on issues such as the resurgence of heroin," Rosenthal added, "while at the same time a reduction in funding will reduce those necessary services."
Margarita Grasing, executive director of the Hispanic Brotherhood of Rockville Centre, said the cuts would impact her agency's senior caregiver and after-school tutorial programs. "I can't see cutting programs for seniors, kids, drugs and alcohol ...," Grasing said. "I'm hoping that [Suozzi] can pass what he wants in Albany. It's not that he's actually asking them for money. I'm hoping our senators and assemblyman realize what's important in this. But if this goes through, I have seven people that I'll have to lay off, including the kids tutoring in the program. This program's been on for 25 years. It's just a crime."
The Legislature approved a sales tax on home-heating oil, which has been enacted in other New York counties, including Suffolk. Combined with $12 million in cuts to social services, it could yield $30 million for Nassau, county officials have said. Later Monday, committees were set to tackle Suozzi's proposal to lay off nearly 1,000 county workers or persuade them to accept a 7 percent pay cut. Those plans were postponed, however, because officials said they were still negotiating with the county's six unions.
Representatives of the EOC, which sponsors many community-related programs, launched a postcard campaign urging state legislators to approve county proposals to install stoplight cameras, institute a cigarette tax and increase traffic ticket fees to help the county close its budget gap. They stressed the proposed budget cuts could hurt the people they serve.
The possibility of averting all or some of the cuts remains uncertain, and local lawmakers said they would carefully consider any legislation that comes before them.
"Well, the county executive got elected to deal with the budget crisis, which has been going on now for almost a decade," said Assemblyman Bob Barra (R-Lynbrook) when asked about the proposed stoplight cameras and county cigarette tax. "I have to do what I can with the state. I'm more comfortable with the so-called sin taxes than with raising the real property tax rate. If somebody has to work an hour longer to afford a carton of cigarettes or speed through a red light, I'd rather that than a real property tax increase. But I have to weigh everything ... An increase in real property taxes is out. I'll look at anything else and I'll try to be as accommodating as I can."
Scott Reif, a spokesman for Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), said, "Just generally, Senator Skelos has said this is precisely the wrong time to be thinking about raising taxes. Families are concerned about jobs, paying their mortgages, and we think that tax increases for government at any level is not a good option. We've been advocating cutting spending ... This is a discussion that the county executive is going to have to have with the county legislators and labor leaders down there. Obviously, everybody has been hit hard by the national economic recession ... we're advocating at the state level a mix of spending cuts, but certainly not raising taxes. "
Mike Caputo contributed to this story. Comments about it? RVCeditor@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 208.
