(WHITE PLAINS, NY) Earlier today, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino released his 2017 budget proposal amid legislative review of his newly-proposed 40-year lease agreement for the county airport and another year that the County fell short of projected sales tax and other revenue goals.  The County Executive’s 2017 budget relies heavily on a front-loaded one-time payment of $15 million dollars from the Westchester County airport management proposal. The legislature received the proposed lease at close of business on Friday after the County Exec announced the deal in the press and legislative review has begun.

“This is the second straight year the County Executive has submitted a budget that relies on one-shot revenue streams and borrowing for operating expenses to make up for the mismanagement of the county as a whole,” said Majority Leader Catherine Borgia (D-Ossining), “The Legislature has begun the process of reviewing the airport management deal, but that process must not be held hostage to the urgency of an unbalanced budget.

“I applaud the County Executive for not continuing his practice of overly-aggressive sales tax projections, in light of the current 2016 budget shortfall caused by over estimating sales tax revenues. However, since this budget continues to rely on one-shot revenues and other gimmicks, I think it is a reasonable conclusion that the county budget remains out of balance and does not present a sustainable financial future for the county.  Over the last several years various Legislators have presented efficiencies that exist within current county operations that have not been enacted and we will continue to present those during our discussions of the budget and airport alteration proposals,” Borgia concluded.