Suffolk Legislature Approves Final Hiring Authority of Elected Dept. Heads

In the latest round between the County Executive's office and the Suffolk County Legislature, the legislature voted overwhelmingly to sustain the authority and autonomy of five elected county department heads.

The Legislature has argued that County Executive Steve Levy has been overstepping his bounds by refusing to sign off on requests to fill vacated positions, in effect short-staffing the county's departments. A representative of Levy, meanwhile, stated that his measures as "chief budget officer" have kept the county stable financially, especially relative to other municipalities.

The vote count was 16-2, with Legislators Tom Barraga, R - West Islip, and Dan Losquadro, R - Shoreham, voting against the amendment in the county charter. 

Prior to the vote, the county's five elected department heads - representing the offices of the District Attorney, Treasurer, Clerk, Comptroller, and Sheriff - sat in front of the legislature and stated how the change would affect their departments - and the county as a whole. 

"Who knows better than we do which positions need to be filled?" said Pascale. "The county currently employs 12,000 people - we collectively control less than 1,800. The sky will not fall should this legislation pass."

While the five departments reported having close to a total of 115 current vacancies, they all said only a fraction of them would be filled should the legislation pass. County Comptroller Joseph Sawicki said he would fill three or four positions, Pascale said she would fill zero, Treasurer Angie Carpenter said she would fill a single position, and a representative of the District Attorney's office estimated four positions would be filled. Paperwork to fill eight positions in the Sheriff's Office is currently on file.

Carpenter said her small claims office, which under normal circumstances employs four people, currently has two. 

"If someone's on vacation - and everyone is entitled to a vacation - and someone gets sick, nobody is there," she said. Carpenter added that the office must make payments in 30 days or risk being charged 3 percent interest on the payments. After receiving $178,000 in property tax grievances last year, it has received "well over $600,000" this year.

Ben Zwirn, assistant deputy county executive, said that Levy's final control over hiring within departments is the reason the county maintains its highest bond rating ever with Moody's Investor Services, at Aa2. 

The bill will now go to Levy for signing. Should the bill be vetoed, a supermajority of the Legislature would be required to make the bill law.