Meet the candidates: Suffolk County Executive

Bellone and Kennedy talk budget and other topics

As Election Day inches closer, having candidates congregate onstage to discuss issues is one of the main ways constituents hear from them. The Meet the Candidates event at Sycamore Avenue Elementary School in Bohemia on Wednesday, Oct. 23 was one of the last chances for this area’s residents to listen to Suffolk County executive Steve Bellone and his challenger, current county comptroller John Kennedy.

The event, which also featured the 8th and 10th Legislative races, began at 6:30 p.m. with the announced intention of beginning with the executive candidates. Kennedy had announced days before that he must leave the event at 7:15 p.m. to attend another event. Bellone entered the auditorium 25 minutes into what was supposed to be a back-and-forth presentation of his and Kennedy’s testimonies. Instead, Kennedy answered a series of questions in a row until Bellone showed up. When Kennedy left at 7:15 p.m., Bellone was asked the same series of questions.

In his opening statement, Kennedy addressed the financial situation that the county is currently immersed in: an estimated $20 million deficit by the end of 2020.

“I would say that it is actually closer to $50 million, because we have a $29.4 million judgment that has been upheld by the appellate division based on the administration’s removal of sewer construction around the protection money,” Kennedy said. “Inevitably, it will come due in 2020.

“We spend more than we take in, and until we ratchet back and walk down on some of the prolific spending that this county does, we will continue to spiral downwards.”

When Bellone had the opportunity to speak about the budget and the anticipated deficit calculated for the close of 2020, he referred back to 2010, when he inherited an almost $500 million deficit upon swearing in.

“This was a county that was on the verge of bankruptcy,” Bellone said. “We came in and we started making the tough decisions right away. I believe in leading by example. On Day One, I cut my own pay. I refused to take a county car. I volunteered to be the first [executive] in county history to pay for their own healthcare.”

Bellone said that the financial situation in the last decade has been trending in the right direction. He said that the $20 million figure presented is “statistically, almost nothing.”

“Despite the massive deficit we had, we were able to reduce that deficit and eliminate it now,” he said. “We have two years in a row of an operating surplus. [We have been consistently] keeping taxes below the tax cap.”