Members of the Rockland County Legislature have issued a statement regarding the proposed 2009 county budget submitted by County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef.

The plan increases spending by about $30.3 million, from about $684.2 million this year to about $714.5 million next year.

The proposal increases the amount of money to be collected via the county property tax by about 9.85 percent, from about $54 million this year to about $59 million next year.

Here is the Legislature’s statement:

New City, NY (October 24, 2008) – Rockland County Legislative Chairwoman Harriet D. Cornell, Vice Chairman William L. Darden, Majority Leader Michael M. Grant, and Budget and Finance Chair Ilan S. Schoenberger made the following statement today regarding County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef’s 2009 Executive Budget:

“While we certainly recognize that difficult times call for difficult choices, as elected officials we have a responsibility to ensure that the choices that are made are the right ones.  Over the coming days and weeks we will continue the budget review process that we began several weeks ago and further analyze departmental spending and revenues in an effort to pass a balanced budget that is both fiscally prudent and financially sound.

With a cloudy economic future ahead of us, it is more critical than ever that the budget we received from the County Executive contains accurate projections when it comes to the generation of revenue. We are all aware that sales tax revenues, upon which the county depends, have slowed considerably.  We will closely scrutinize the budget and ascertain how the spending cuts that were proposed affect the delivery of vital services and programs to Rockland County residents.  Knowing that Rockland taxpayers are already struggling to make ends meet, we will closely examine the property tax increase that was proposed by the County Executive.

Today’s turbulent economy has put the county in a tenuous financial situation, yet with a balanced and pragmatic approach we can help chart the right course, steer our county’s finances back on track, and protect Rockland families.”

County Legislature Vice Chairman William Darden, D-Hillcrest, announced today that he would not seek election to the 95th Assembly District against incumbent Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern.

“I thought about it for a period of time. I had supporters over there and I truly treasure their support,” Darden said this afternoon.

Even though he knows it’s cliche, Darden said he honestly likes what he’s doing on the Legislature.

Still, he said, a run for the Assembly is “not out of the future.”

Jaffee had been facing as many as five challengers from within her own party.  Of them, only one, Ramapo Town Clerk Chris Sampson, has decided to run. The others were Darden, Suffern Mayor John Keegan and former Legislators David Fried and Patrick Withers.

The Republicans are expected to run a candidate against Jaffee, who is finishing out her first term. The district includes Orangetown and parts of Ramapo.

Ramapo Town Clerk Chris Sampson has formally announced that he will challenge Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern, in the Democratic primary for Jaffee’s seat this fall.

Sampson was one of several area Democrats who said this winter they were interested in the seat. The others were County Legislature Vice Chairman William Darden, Suffern Mayor John Keegan, and former Legislators Patrick Withers and David Fried.

Jaffee and Rockland’s other state representatives are up for re-election in November. Jaffee is completing her first term.

The county’s Democratic convention is coming up in the next few weeks. We’ll be checking in with the four stragglers soon. Stay tuned.

Raphael Ziegler, chairman of the Rockland County Taxi and Livery Coalition, said he’s disappointed that legislators once again tabled a proposal to make Rockland County the sole licensing agency for taxis, limousines and the like.

Legislator Ilan Schoenbeger, D-Wesley Hills, and Vice Chairman William Darden, D-Hillcrest, said at last night’s meeting that more time was needed for discussions with Spring Valley, which does not want the county’s plan to mean a crush of new taxis operating in the village.

“I think Spring Valley had plenty of time to work this out,” Ziegler said. “I think they should have done this a long time ago.”

The plan was first introduced in the spring of 2006. To become the county’s sole licensing agency, the county needs home-rule legislation from the state. Currently, state law allows towns and villages to license livery service companies on their own.

Legislature Chairwoman Harriet Cornell, D-West Nyack, has made a few changes in the committees and their leadership.

She created one new committee on economic development to be headed by Majority Leader Michael Grant, D-Garnerville. The committee will deal with the “stimulus, development and revitalizaton of Rockland County’s economy” according to a new release issued by Cornell.

Newly returned Legislator Alden Wolfe, D-Suffern, has been named chair of the Government Operations Committee, a spot formerly held by Grant. And Legislator Jay Hood Jr., D-Haverstraw, will replace former Legislator David Fried as the chairman of the Public Safety Committee.

Returning to their posts are:

Legislator Ilan Schoenberger, D-Wesley Hills: Budget and Finance

Legislator Connie Coker, D-South Nyack: Environmental

Vice Chairman William Darden, D-Spring Valley: Rules

Legislator VJ Pradhan, D-Nanuet: Planning and Public Works

Legislator Philip Soskin, D-Monsey: Multi-Services

That leaves two Democratic legislators, Joseph Meyers from Airmont and Jacques Michel from Spring Valley, without leadership positions. The two are new to the Legislature this year.

The Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic Action Fund endorsed the following candidates for Rockland County Legislature:
—Michael Diederich, D, District 1
—Legislator Ilan Schoenberger, D-Wesley Hills, District 4
—John Fellas, D, District 5
—Legislature Vice Chairman William Darden, D-Hillcrest, District 8
—Legislature Chairwoman Harriet Cornell, D-West Nyack, District 10
—Legislator VJ Pradhan, D-Nanuet, District 14
—Legislator Connie Coker, D-South Nyack, District 17

County Legislature Vice Chairman William Darden, D-Hillcrest, is not happy that two signs bearing his name were ripped from the ground this weekend and, in one case, tossed over a fence onto the sidewalk.

 The campaign signs promoted Darden, along with village trustee candidates Joseph Desmaret and Anthony Leon and justice candidate Christine Theodore. He said today that they were ripped out of the ground at his brother’ house and at the home of Deputy Mayor Noramie Jasmin. His brother is village Mayor George Darden.

“I don’t know why it’s just my sign and nobody else’s,” he said.

 And it’s not the first time the family had been targeted. Two years ago, his brother’s campaign signs were not only taken out of the ground but sliced with a sharp object.

Darden said the signs were expensive—and big.  There are a total of six around the district like the ones that were vandalized, each about 4 feet by 8 feet.

Legislators David Fried, Ian Schoenberger, Philip Soskin, Bruce Levine Patrick Withers and Vice Chairman William Darden, all Democrats from Ramapo, have issued a press release stating that they are planning to draft legislation that would call on County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef to investigate whether the county could acquire the New York Country Club in New Hempstead.

But Donald Tracy, the New City lawyer of country club owner Joe Cho, said today that his client has already signed a contract with S & G Golden Estates and that he was amused by all the recent political attention paid to the property.

The only way the county could get the 165-acre property now is through condemnation, he said.

“It makes good political rhetoric, for the constituents,” he said of the legislators’ push, “but it’s highly impractical.”

The Rockland Conference of Mayors last week voted to ask the county to buy, or acquire the property through condemnation.

“It sounds ridiculous,” Tracy said.

Jenn Profenna, a spokeswoman with the county executive’s office, said today that Vanderhoef had not received any details from the Legislature.

Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef neither approved nor vetoed the Legislature’s resolution to symbolically ban the N-word and other derogatory terms based on race, religion or ethnicity.

In his message to the Legislature he wrote “As abhorrent as this word is to me personally, attempting to ban any word in the English language, even symbolically, borders on the outer limits of what could be considered justifiable legislative powers.”

Vanderhoef went on to write that legislation can not replace a person’s conscience nor can it replace the word’s ugly history.

Legislature Vice Chairman William Darden said today that he wished Vanderhoef would have signed the law. The more people that speak out against the word, the better, he said.

Because Vanderhoef did not veto the resolution it will be considered approved.

No secret handshake necessary.

The Rockland County Legislature is hopping on the ban-the-”N”-word bandwagon. The Legislature’s Multi-Services Committee has on its agenda a resolution, introduced by Vice Chairman William Darden, D-Hillcrest, to “symbolically” ban the use of the “N” word as well as all derogatory words referencing race, ethnicity and religious practice.

It’s certainly not a new idea, especially in this area. Last month Nyack village trustees and the Westchester County Board of Legislators passed a resolution calling for an end to the word’s use. Earlier this month the New York City Council also adopted a nonbinding resolution that prohibits the use of that word.

The Multi-Services Committee, which meets at 6 p.m. tomorrow in New City, will also tackle a proposal to ban smoking in a vehicle with children under the age of 18. That resolution, sponsored by Legislator Connie Coker, D-South Nyack, aims to prevent damage caused by secondhand smoke.

They will also discuss a proposal by Legislator David Fried, D-Spring Valley, that would direct County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef to create a telephone and e-mail hotline to report businesses that sell alcohol and tobacco to minors.

If the committee votes to pass all these items through, the full Legislature will vote on them at an upcoming meeting. The law against smoking in vehicles with children would require a public hearing.