2014 Nov 12 (7:30pm) I was asked a question about the City of Port Jervis resolution that was passed on Monday night (Nov. 10th) regarding the city asking the county, in a effort to save money, to close the county probation and social service office in the city. Here is my (slightly edited) response to that question. I encourage you to voice your opinion but please be respectful: As most of you should be aware, the county is running a deficit in which they need to correct the gap in which they are pulling from an ever shrinking fund balance. Our city nearly had the DMV taken away to help fix this gap. However we were able to work out this situation because DMV is in a city owned building and possibly moving to another city owned building with lower than market rent. I did however advise that I would look at county spent services in the city and see where money could be saved. After speaking with the council and advising them that the county social services runs a transportation system, free of charge to clients, through Port Jervis to other locations in the county where there are duplicated services such as probation and other services they (the council) voted unanimously to support this request. I also sent a letter of request with the councils resolution to the county executive. We did not request that Mental Health nor other Health Department offices be closed as we see the urgency and timeliness of need for this service. Unfortunately the county spends a tremendous amount of money with these duplicated services in rent, utilities, and payroll. Local and county governments are told by the state to consolidate and work to combine services. That is why this decision was made. Will it inconvenience people? The probability is yes but unfortunately I see as I created my proposed 2015 budget for the city, that government just does not have the money to continue to operate status quo as well as keeping within parameters set by our state government. If you take a look at my proposed budget for 2015 there are many cuts that I did not want to make but found it is necessary since the fund balance has been dwindled to a dangerously low amount. I hope this answers the question some of you may have on this concern. Here is the current bus schedule that runs 5 days a week now. sunyorange.edu/wea/uploads/attachments/12ca910781ce84905faf866821d3a91bbd62f127.pdf
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 00:34:38 +0000
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