Three Public Hearings to be Held in Brookhaven, Islip and Riverhead
SuffolkShare Would Save Approximately $37 Million Over Two-Year Period
SuffolkShare Includes Launch of Virtual Municipal Service Store and Creating New Procurement Consortium
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone today announced a series of upcoming public hearings to further inform residents and receive community feedback on SuffolkShare – the County’s Shared Services plan that is designed to deliver taxpayer savings through greater collaboration, coordination and efficiency among local governments. Public hearings will be held in the Towns of Brookhaven, Islip and Riverhead.
“Public participation is an essential part of this process in order to develop proposals that will make government more efficient and cost-effective as possible,” said Suffolk County Executive Bellone. “As Governor Cuomo intended, we are committed to making this as transparent and inviting as possible and I look forward to continuing the dialogue with all stakeholders in the weeks ahead."
As part of the statewide Countywide Shared Services Initiative that was signed into law earlier this year, county, town and village officials are statutorily required to vote on a plan that would propose new inter-municipal actions and save taxpayers money through efficient and coordinated shared services. The state law requires Suffolk County to submit a localized savings plan to theSuffolk County Legislature by August 1, 2017. Once recommendations are received and modifications are made to the plan, the Suffolk Shared Services Panel must vote on the plan no later than September 15. The Panel is comprised of the County Executive, Town Supervisors and Village Mayors.
If the plan is approved, Suffolk County municipalities would be able to receive one-time matching funds from New York State. The certified savings from the new actions implemented on or after January 1, 2018 are eligible for the matching funds.
The series of community meetings addressing the shared services are as follows:
Brookhaven
Wednesday, August 30 – 7 p.m.
Brookhaven Town Hall
1 Independence Hall, Farmingville
Islip
Thursday, September 7 – 11 a.m.
Islip Town Hall West
401 Main Street, Islip
Riverhead
Tuesday, September 12 – 11 a.m.
Riverhead County Center
Legislative Auditorium
300 Center Drive, Riverhead
County Executive Bellone recently unveiled SuffolkShare – a comprehensive ten-point plan that was developed to meet the mission objective of the Countywide Shared Services Initiative. The plan would save taxpayers approximately $37 million over a two-year period, and incorporates various ideas generated among county, town and village officials, along with other key stakeholders, that were offered during the course of meetings held over several months.
Among the various components included in SuffolkShare include designing a virtual municipal service store, establishing an intra-county procurement consortium, offering an assortment of inter-municipal services with participating municipalities, and providing a certification function that would identify and quantify savingsachieved by the use of the shared services program.
For more information, residents and municipal employees are encouraged to log onto the New York State Department of State’s Shared Services Initiative website at www.ny.gov/programs/shared-services-initiative.
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