LWV Debate County Comptroller Candidates John Kennedy And Jay Schneiderman

Part II 

Suffolk County Comptroller candidates John Kennedy and Jay Schneiderman

John Kennedy has lived in Smithtown most of his adult life. He is seeking a second term as Suffolk County comptroller. Prior to getting elected comptroller, he served on the Suffolk County legislature in 12th LD for 10 years   Kennedy has an MBA in business Administration from Adelphi, a JD from St. Johns and a BA in psychology from Stony Brook. When he ran for the office of comptroller his platform was for more audits, less debt and better service. He believes that he has fulfilled that platform saying, “promises made promises kept.” 

Jay Schneiderman grew up in Hauppauge. He has a bachelor of arts from Ithaca and a masters from Cortland University. He is the Supervisor of the town of Southampton and in the town of East Hampton, and served as a Suffolk County Legislator for 12 years. Schneiderman emphasizes his strong fiscal management in both towns that have received Triple A bond ratings. He sees himself as a strong independent watchdog and touts his 19 year record in elected office of having never raised property taxes. Schneiderman said that he is running to help resolve some of the county’s fiscal challenges.

Complete guestions and answers can be found on the League Of Women Voter YouTube page

There were seven questions asked of the candidates. 

Question #1 Suffolk County recently suffered a downgrade in its credit rating from Moody’s Investment Services and the NYS Comptroller rated the county’s finances as suffering from “significant stress.” What impact does this have on the citizens of Suffolk County and as comptroller what impact can you have?

Both candidates explained the role of Suffolk County Comptroller as being that of a chief fiscal officer having the responsibility for providing oversight, but having no policy function. Kennedy expressed the sentiment that the downgrade would have no impact on the interest the county is paying on prior debt. He said that it was a “very ominous warning” that the county is in dire financial strains and that the 2019 budget presented by County Executive Bellone “included shaky and problematic estimates.” Schneidermann  was a more concerned about the Moody’s downgrade. He said the county has borrowed a lot including $300 million to cover pension costs and he explained that the debt service on that money amounts to $41 million a year. He expressed the sentiment that the downgrade should be revisited since the proposed 2019 budget was sound with no one shot revenue generators and that the sales tax revenue had increased. 

Question #2 - What is status of Suffolk County revenues and projections and do we get our share of online sales tax revenues? Schneiderman - Was a bit optimistic when talking about county sales tax revenue which generates $1.5 billion for the county. He pointed out that recently there was 5% growth amounting to $30 million more in sales tax revenue than projected. He added that the county needed do everything possible to support small business and to avoid making policy that might adversely affect them and reduce sales tax. Saying revenue suffered with the growth of the internet, he acknowledged that Amazon and other major retailers were now collecting sales tax.  He agreed with John Kennedy that the 2019 projections for sales tax revenue might be ambitious. Kennedy - Called Suffolk County a $3 billion municipal corporation. Kennedy said the projected 3.5% increase in projected tax revenue is higher than Nassau’s 2.5%, “we’re trying to gauge what impact would be on consumption.” He pointed to $32.9 million transfer being used to plug a 2018 hole in the budget. “We have to have a smaller budget, we have to spend less that is what the majority refuses to accept.”

Question #3- Suffolk County Comptroller is elected directly by voters and should be independent of county executive yet it is vital to have good communication and align on goals. Is it a partisan or nonpartisan office? Kennedy -  No, there is no democratic, republican, or minor party way to audit the audit function, vouchers for payment of vendors, payroll, plug every there is no politics associated in a ministerial function. “Some might say there appears to be a push and tug, I say bravo, that’s the way the charter was set up.” The comptroller needs to be independent, arms length, it is a non-policy office charged with verifying financial transactions. Schneiderman- A comptroller needs to put party behind, be party blind, go where trail leads. You are charged with rooting out corruption, fraud and misappropriation and you need to do that without favoritism and animosity. I will be vigilant in rooting out corruption.  I will be an independent watch dog not a political attack dog.

Question #4 -A new Deputy police commissioner and Deputy DA were appointed after they retired (from their county positions) some legislators say this is another product of the broken system. Can you clarify how this occurs?  Is there any role for the comptroller or audits? Is this something that can be fixed in someway? Schneiderman - The comptroller does not negotiate contracts. He stated that in terms of payouts, all the comptroller can do is make sure that it is accurate based on hours served, look at time sheets and make sure protections are in place. If they’re due the money, they’re due the money. Schneiderman believes that a comptroller can have an elevated role in advising policy, “say if I believe that it’s a risky scheme that might undermine county’s financial position going forward. If they are going into a contract and i have some concerns about outlying years that might lead to tax increases and other ways they are going to have to generate the revenue.” Kennedy - Addressing the issue of waivers under which these appointments were made. Kennedy said the enity must make the case to NYS Civil Service, that this individual is the only individual that can perform that particular function.  “I think that we have to be mindful of the fact that each one of these individuals is collecting their pension and did so at the time they were picked”.  he question the position that out of 1.5 million people they are the only two with the skills to do the job.

Question #5 - LWV observes the SC Waiver Committee. Some legislators say it is a way not to use the RFP for bid process, to go around the bidding process. Does the comptroller have imput or a fiscal responsibllity, imput here and where does it fit together? Both candidates expressed concern about the waiver process. Kennedy explained that the waiver committee is a mechanism to relieve the county from the obligations of the rfp process and its requirement to engage in the solicitation of bids obligation which is  to select the lowest most qualified bidder. When waiver committee either there were not three bids submitted or extra necessary or urgency. Kennedy was emphatic in his belief that there are abuses in the waiver process. Schneiderman concurred  and said he also has concerns with the process. He explained how he has, in his role as town supervisor, discarded bids and began a new rfp to get better results and stressed the need to be more aggressive in outreach.  “if you don’t like the numbers you have to go out again, not skip the harder step and issue a waiver.” 

Question #6 We have a NYS comptroller office that sends out weekly emails that summarize and presents the audits The League wants to see transparency and sunlight in county government. Is this something that would be useful? Does the county work with state comptroller? Both Schneiderman and Kennedy expressed support for NYS Comptroller Tom Dinapoli, the information his office provides and the helpful assistance they receive. Both indicated that they would continue to work with NYS on auditing and other projects.

Question #7- How do you do more with less in comptroller office? Kennedy-  I’ve kept the comptroller’s budget static. Combining the two offices of  treasurer and comptroller through the accelerated consolidation we have saved $1 million salary savings having five less positions a year. Comptroller’s office has brought in  $8 million in audit recovery reduced $35 million in interest debt by refinancing debt.  Schneiderman - Can’t always do more with less, sometimes you do less. He sited work being done in the health dept where less is being done and the county’s public transportation system (less bus routes) as an examples of not being able to do more with less. Schneiderman talked about the difficult decisions that are required when the funding is not available. Sometimes doing less means layoffs and closing a nursing home, you can’t always do more with less sometimes you have to make tough choices.