Akiko Matsuda

amatsuda@lohud.com

NEW CITY – In a 15-2 vote Monday night, the Democratic-led Rockland County Legislature approved an override of all the budget-item vetoes issued by Republican County Executive Ed Day, saving the Sheriff's mounted patrol unit, Sheriff's captain position and funding for 10 nonprofit organizations.

The Legislature then went on to adopt its version of the 2015 budget of about $772 million, finalizing the months-long budget deliberation process.

Legislator Michael Grant, D-Garnerville, chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, criticized Day's approach to the budget process as inconsistent.

"There's nothing that he submitted to us, in terms of his vetoes, that makes it a better budget," Grant said. "There's nothing in his vetoes that we should consider tonight."

Day, in his veto message, said that as a chief fiscal officer of the county, he had to make a tough decision to reform the financially stressed county government. "I sincerely hope to work together with the full Legislature toward this shared goal in the future," Day said in his statement.

Day's vetoes, totaling nearly $700,000, included $220,740 to maintain the Sheriff's mounted patrol unit and a patrol captain's position in the Sheriff's Office, with a salary of $171,274. Day also vetoed funding for 10 nonprofits, totaling $281,375, saying those organizations' services were not consistent with the county government's mission and purpose.

Legislators Joseph Meyers, D-Airmont; Chris Carey, R-Bardonia; Douglas Jobson, R-Stony Point; and Patrick Moroney, R-Pearl River, wanted to vote on Day's vetoes one by one, but the other legislators supported overriding them all together. Meyers and Carey voted "no" to overriding Day's vetoes.

Carey said the cuts were never easy but necessary. "Unfortunately, we're not a county that can afford to have a budget without cuts," he said.

Under the adopted budget, taxpayers with homes assessed at the county's average would pay about $20 more a year in county taxes.

Day's initial budget proposal called for eliminating 111 jobs to trim about $6.8 million, including 37 positions in the Sheriff's Patrol Division as well as dozens of security and laundry jobs. It also called for eliminating funding for nonprofit groups to save about $3.3 million.

The revised budget adopted by the Legislature restored 36 of the 37 positions in the Sheriff's Patrol Division and funding for the mounted patrol. Money for the nonprofits also was put back into the spending plan.

Twitter: @LohudAkiko