(WHITE PLAINS, NY) Several days after County Executive Rob Astorino vowed to continue wasting taxpayer money fighting the implementation of the HUD settlement, the court-appointed monitor filed his “Third Biennial Assessment of Westchester County Compliance,” which continued to highlight discrepancies between Astorino’s public rhetoric and statements that he and administration officials have made under oath as well as failures to complete simple and cost-free promotional and informational tasks.  The report also states that the Astorino administration failed to complete the required Analysis of Impediments, which among other things, is used to determine eligibility for federal funds.  The failure on this front means the County will continue to be ineligible for grants from HUD. 

In response to the monitor’s annual report, Board of Legislators Majority Leader Catherine Borgia issued the following statement, “The newest report from the independent monitor brings to light some very troubling information including the possibility that Astorino or other high ranking administration officials misrepresented facts under oath in an attempt to cover up their divisive political reason for opposing the implementation of this settlement.  I am sure many taxpayers agree there is no point in continuing a fight that costs the county millions of dollars when this report states that we have met our building permit and finance benchmarks.” 

On page 29 of the Monitor’s report, it reiterates the requirements necessary to complete certain promotional aspects in order to reach the registrants of the County’s Central Intake System.  Those requirements are:
•    Outreach on the County’s Website
•    Notices Sent to the households signed up for Homeseeker information
•    E-mail through the County’s list serve
•    Postings to the County’s Twitter Feed and Facebook Page

Borgia reacted to the failings of the Administration to complete those tasks, “Three out of four of those requirements cost absolutely nothing to complete and direct mail to the 9,000 or so households required would only cost a few thousand dollars at most.  At this point, the County Executive’s continued petulance, as displayed by his disingenuous recent statements, is clearly going to cost taxpayers millions more.  The Board of Legislators has and will continue to act expeditiously on the financing requests from the Administration that further the goal of providing adequate housing for as many Westchester residents as we can.  With that commitment in good faith we demand that the County Executive complete the remaining aspects of the settlement without costing taxpayers millions of dollars more.”

Click here for the Monitor’s Report.