Layoffs on the Horizon after Town Board Accepts Amended Lesko Budget

Since former supervisor Mark Lesko proposed a $247 million in September, the Brookhaven Town Board has made a handful of amendments to preserve things like the Holtsville Wildlife and Ecology Center, the Division of Veterans Services and other positions – but not enough to entirely stop layoffs.

Now, that controversial budget's amended form has become the town's adopted 2013 budget, meaning the town's 2012 tax rate won't increase and overall spending will decrease by approximately $14 million – but also meaning that layoffs are on the way, according to a report published Thursday by the Times Beacon Record newspaper group.

The town board would have needed to act further on the budget by Nov. 20, but what the TBR newspapers reported as partisan votes split the town board on several resolutions that would have restored more positions.

According to the TBR report, Lesko's proposed budget called for close to 150 full- and part-time layoffs to save money, but the town board was able to restore about a dozen positions. The positions that were saved include a youth social worker, a women's resource advisor, two fire marshals and two planning department positions.

TBR also reports the town board clashed over the decision to keep or eliminate the $38 tax for snow removal that residents were paying following heavy snowfall between the beginning of winter in 2009 and the end of winter in 2011. Councilwoman Jane Bonner told TBR that the board promised not to charge that tax.

Click here to read the full story from the Times Beacon Record newspaper group.