Legislature’s Veto Power to go for Public Vote

By Holly Crocco

The Putnam County Legislature last week voted to override a veto by County Executive Kevin Byrne that is – confusingly – in relation to the vote required to override certain budget vetoes.

Each year, the county executive and his administrative team draft a proposed budget that he presents to the Legislature in October. That governing body then takes the month to dissect the spending plan, making additions and deletions, modifications, and other changes. Once it approves the budget, the county executive has the opportunity to veto some of the changes.

The Legislature then gets one last crack at the matter, and can vote to override that veto by a supermajority vote.

Last week’s motion means there will now be a public referendum in which residents can decide if the Legislature can override the county executive’s vetoes with a simple majority, as opposed to a supermajority – only when it pertains to appropriations that have been reduced by the Legislature in the budget.

In correspondence to the Legislature, Byrne outlined his concerns with the charter change.

“This unnecessarily curtails the county executive’s power and duties pursuant to the charter,” he wrote. “As chief budget officer, the county executive and administration spend almost half of the fiscal year preparing and reviewing the tentative budget. Lowering the threshold by which the Legislature can reject the budget veto by the executive does a disservice to the preparation and knowledge inherent in the county executive’s involvement in the budgeting process.”

Further, Byrne said the move imbalances checks and balances between the executive and legislative branches of government, which are intentional to maintain a fair and just government.

Prior to the vote, Legislator Tommy Regan, R-Brewster, encouraged his colleagues to override the veto.

“We passed it in the first place and we thought it was a good idea,” he said. “One of the primary roles that we play is the fiscal oversight of Putnam County and this particular resolution, in a finite circumstance, gives this body the opportunity to vote, to hold the purse strings as we are elected here to do.”

Legislator Jake D’Angelo, R-Carmel, agreed. “I think it’s an important piece of legislation,” he said. “It helps us control spending.”

D’Angelo also noted that the original matter passed just one vote shy of unanimous. “The beauty of this is it goes on the ballot and it allows the people to decide how they want their government to operate,” he said.

Legislative Counsel Heather Abissi confirmed that the matter will go to a public referendum to give taxpayers a say on whether they want that additional oversight on the budget process.

“And this rule only affects reductions, so it’s basically only affecting your ability to reduce the budget if you feel that there was overspending in any category, as we saw in this budget process,” she said.

The motion to override the veto, which will allow for a public referendum regarding the Legislature’s veto power, was approved by a vote of 6-2, with Legislators Bill Gouldman, R-Putnam Valley, and Laura Russo, R-Patterson, voting “no.”

Legislator Erin Crowley, R-Mahopac, was absent.