New City, NY (July 7th, 2011) – In light of recent revelations regarding a multi-million dollar loss at the Summit Park Hospital and the overall condition of Rockland County’s finances, Legislator Ed Day, (New City-Pomona) is calling for a bipartisan investigation into what he describes as “a clear pattern of disturbing irregularities.”
“I have found the statements made by the County Executive over the past several months regarding major sectors of our County’s financial picture to be shocking to say the least, and they call into question all of the information presented to our County Legislature, who by authority of the County Charter holds the ultimate responsibility to appropriate funds for government operations,” said Legislator Day, who added “We must rely on accurate information from the Executive Branch in order to discharge that responsibility in service to the public.”
For each of the past few years, the County Executive has asserted the State of New York owed Rockland County between $50 and $60 million for mandated, performed services, stressing that was a major factor affecting Rockland County’s financial position. Based on these representations, the Legislature was obligated to approve borrowing through revenue anticipation notes in order to ensure a stable cash flow for necessary services.
Two weeks ago, County Executive Scott Vanderhoef sent a letter to Governor Cuomo claiming that New York State now owed Rockland $80 million. A routine media inquiry revealed that number was nearly double what the true amount owed was; that nearly half of the owed money was never billed by the County; and based on the obvious discrepancies, inquiries made by Legislator Day revealed that current receivables may be far less than claimed by the Executive branch.
“I cannot help but wonder why neighboring counties facing the same challenges are not borrowing money, and am stunned that we may have $35 million owed to our taxpayers that was never billed out to begin with,” said Legislator Day.
Last week, the County Executive surprised nearly everyone in County government when he announced that the County-run Summit Park Hospital lost $10 million in 2010. The unveiling of massive amounts of alleged red ink at a hospital that the County Executive had repeatedly held up as profitable also called into question many other financial numbers originating at the Executive branch, particularly in regards to whether funds were transferred in contradiction of the County Charter and the supposed profit that would be derived from selling the hospital to a public benefit corporation.
“We’ve accepted the County Executive’s statements on both our fiscal condition and the hospital’s profitability for some time now, and look where it’s left us,” said Legislator Day. “We can no longer merely accept any claims by the Executive branch regarding fiscal matters in general, and the public benefit corporation in particular, because it would be a dereliction of our duty as representatives of the people, and I will now expect absolute certification of any representation of financial duress made by the Executive branch in the future.”
When asked whether he believed that the massive shift in dollars was deliberate or due to a failure of leadership or ability at some point in the supervisory chain, Day responded, “I am hopeful that whether it be through legislative review or the current audit being done by the NY State Comptroller, that we will find that answer. What I do know is this - we must have complete trust and integrity when making financial decisions that impact all Rockland County residents with no surprises, especially when those revelations cost our taxpayers millions of dollars.”
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