Ed Day Vetoes First Rockland Property Tax Cut in 11 Years

Rockland County lawmakers came up short Tuesday in a veto override of the 2017 budget which would have cut property taxes for the first time in 11 years.

County Executive Ed Day’s property tax hike will now go into effect. He had nixed the budget passed two weeks ago which would have cut property taxes by 0.43 percent next year, a modest decrease that lawmakers said marks an important milestone in the county’s return to good fiscal health.

Instead, taxes will go up by 1.2 percent. The extra revenue will be used for a $50,000 increase in postage funding for mailings out of the county executive’s office.

Legislators voted 11-6 to override the vetoes, but 12 votes were needed to accomplish the task.

Legislature Chairman Alden H. Wolfe slammed Day, saying his veto “unnecessarily cuts into the very heart of what helps make our county such a wonderful place to live.”

Day defended his veto, saying last Wednesday that he has cut spending by 9 percent in two years, “which is unheard of in government.”

This article appeared in print on page 34 of the December 21st, 2016 edition of Hamodia.