Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino Tuesday thanked the County Board of Legislators for supporting him on his deficit reduction initiatives including employee contributions to health care, buyouts and a wage freeze. Astorino said he will sign the legislation as a way of helping to reduce the County's projected $166 million deficit in 2011.
The County Executive says, "This is the first step in achieving some real savings because every employee needs to know that sooner rather than later they're gonna have to contribute to their healthcare. Right now the taxpayer is footing the entire bill, 100% of everyone's health insurance. That's not acceptable anymore and not sustainable given our budget deficits."
On Monday night, the Board of Legislators approved the measure which calls for non-union managers and retirees to contribute between 10-20% of their healthcare plans beginning in July.
Astorino says the County is negotiating with labor leaders on employee contributions to health care costs for Westchester's 5,000 unionized employees. Said Astorino, "Without health contributions from the unionized workforce, sweeping job cuts remain a possibility."