Rockland County Officials Freeze Hiring

NEW CITY, NY — Rockland County has imposed a hiring freeze for all county government positions, County Executive Ed Day announced Tuesday. This is the latest step taken to deal with the fiscal damage of the new coronavirus pandemic.

On March 16, the County Executive imposed austerity measures which curtailed all non-essential and discretionary spending. On April 20, Rockland County filed, and was approved, for FEMA reimbursement for COVID-19 related expenses — and will be filing monthly.

“It goes without saying that these are challenging times. We in County Government are making every effort to stay ahead of this fiscal tsunami and prepare for any significant downturn,” said Day. “Based on the estimates of our Finance Department we could be facing as much as a $56.3 million deficit for the 2020 Budget. Rest assured we are acting judiciously now in order to protect residents from the double-digit tax increases of the past.”

The County Executive also wrote to Rockland’s federal representatives (Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand and Congresswoman Lowey) to ask that they include direct financial assistance for counties in any future federal stimulus bills.

“We believe this funding should be distributed through a blended formula that is based on population and the number of COVID-19 infections," he said. "This direct funding could help to make up for budget losses that stem from shutting down large portions of the economy. We will continue to look for any possible cost savings and reimbursement opportunities on the State and Federal levels as 2020 continues."

Federal funding for New York has been a political issue, specially given the severity of its outbreak. New York received about $24,000 per positive coronavirus test, compared to nearly $3.4 million per test in Alaska. In Wyoming, with fewer than 600 positive cases, the $1.25 billion it received from the congressional package equates to 80 percent of its annual general state budget. SEE: States With Few Cases Get Outsized Share Of Relief.