Ahead of final vote, Suffolk lawmakers pore over County Executive Ed Romaine's budget. Here's what's being proposed. 

Suffolk lawmakers are set to vote Nov. 6 on County Executive Edward P. Romaine’s $4 billion 2025 budget, which is expected to raise taxes, maintain county services and add law enforcement officers.

But it's not a done deal yet. Lawmakers made changes to the budget and are expected to present them Friday. 

One aspect of the spending plan is a property tax increase. Residents in the five western towns who pay into the county police fund, which supports the bulk of spending for the police department, would see an increase of about $49 per year. Those who live in the East End towns, which are served by their own police departments, would see an average annual increase of about $5.91 in their general fund taxes.

Here are some highlights of the 2025 spending plan that lawmakers are expected to pass.

Big spending for county workers 

The biggest chunk of spending goes to salary, benefits and other personnel costs, comprising $2.4 billion, or more than half the budget, according to the legislature’s Budget Review Office. That’s higher than the 44% average for state and local governments, according to the Washington, D.C.-based research institution Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

Total employee spending is expected to rise by $128 million in 2025. Employee health insurance costs are anticipated to climb $83.9 million — including $57.7 million more for prescription drug coverage — to a total of $707.6 million. County officials have noted the increase is driven by people taking the class of prescription drugs that includes Ozempic.

Money in the bank

The county had big operating surpluses in the past two years — $262.6 million in 2023 and a projected $121.1 million in 2024 in the general fund, according to the BRO. This is separate from the approximately $1 billion the county has in reserve funds.

Romaine has stressed the importance of keeping reserves intact to improve the county’s credit rating and reduce future borrowing costs. Reserves can be used to fund capital projects, pay off debt or offer an alternative to raising taxes or cutting services during an economic downturn. 

The spending plan only budgets $2.45 million for lawsuit and liability settlements which could deplete the county’s $42.3 million self-insurance reserve fund that's used to cover those costs, according to the BRO. Suffolk County paid out $29.5 million in 2023 to settle lawsuits including those involving the police. The county has estimated it could eventually pay more than $600 million in judgments and settlements stemming from pending lawsuits.

More law enforcement hires

The budget creates 107 new positions, but abolishes 142 vacant positions for a net loss of 35. Most of the new positions are law enforcement.

It creates 18 positions in the district attorney’s office, largely to cover costs for the Gilgo Beach Homicide Task Force, and abolishes two interim positions.

The proposed spending plan calls for raising the district attorney’s budget to $64.4 million in 2025, up from an estimated $61 million in 2024 and $51.6 million in 2023.

The 2025 budget creates 33 new positions in the sheriff’s department, which has been plagued by excessive overtime, as reported by Newsday. Romaine said the spending plan includes a gain of 95 more police officers added to the ranks after hiring 225 recruits and accounting for expected retirements in 2025.

Social services spending up

The county Department of Social Services' budget is expected to increase by $24.4 million, or 3.7%, to $668 million in 2025 due to increased demand for services.

Every county caseworker was given a raise when they were bumped up by three title grades last year as Suffolk works to better recruit and retain staff, according to the BRO report. DSS oversees welfare, homeless housing, child and adult protective services, foster care, Medicaid and SNAP.

The budget cuts 42 vacant positions, but that still leaves 480 vacancies in a department that has been traditionally difficult to staff. DSS has filled 43 positions since the same time last year, according to the BRO.

 Suffolk has not met its goal of keeping CPS caseworker load levels below 12, as outlined in the county’s 2020 CPS Transformation Act. The package of bills was adopted following the 2020 hypothermia death of 8-year-old Thomas Valva at the hands of his father Michael Valva and his fiancée Angela Pollina.

There were 26 caseworkers with loads above 12, and eight with loads above 15 as of Oct. 16, according to the county’s online dashboard. That’s up from 16 and three on the same day in 2023 and 18 and four on the same day in 202 2.  

Beefed up cybersecurity

The plan boosts information technology spending from an estimated $31,995,345 in 2024 to a recommended $40,592,819 in 2025.

Suffolk County fell victim to a 2022 ransomware attack that exposed the information of nearly 500,000 residents and took county services, including the main website and email, offline for months.

The budget creates three new positions including a chief deputy IT commissioner. The county is also expected to hire a chief information security officer, or a CISO, a role that has been vacant since March. Additionally, Suffolk has set aside $700,000 in 2025 for virtual CISO services to backstop county staff.

The spending plan also includes $200,000 for the county to procure a cyber insurance policy which it did not have at the time of the attack.

Correction: The biggest chunk of Suffolk County's budget is expected to go toward salaries, benefits and other personnel expenses, totaling $2.4 billion. An earlier draft of this article misstated the cost. 

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.