Despite restored funding in budget, Route 76 is cut
The peace was short-lived. Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino canceled a contract with the Route 76 bus operator despite the Board of Legislators’ restoring the money in the budget.
Service along the route that connects Port Chester, Rye and White Plains ceased Monday, even though Democratic lawmakers overrode the Republican’s veto and restored the $243,436 for that service.
“We looked at it very closely, and we’re comfortable with our position,” said Jessica Proud, spokeswoman for the Astorino administration. “We’re responsible to provide the service, but it’s our discretion in how to do it in the most cost-effective way. … This is one of the areas we could save money.”
Westchester County contracts with Liberty Lines to operate its countywide Bee Line Bus System, but the 76 line was run by a separate, smaller operator, Port Chester-Rye Transit.
Proud said the county would extend its 13 bus route, which now goes from Rye to Ossining, to cover most of the bus line, but it was not cost-effective to extend it all the way to Milton Point, a wealthier waterfront
neighborhood Roughly 30 riders are expected to be affected by this change, Proud said.
When Astorino rejected the bus funding, he said that the county was losing $8 per ride and that the bus line had only 160 riders per day.
Legislator Judy Myers, D-Mamaroneck, whose district encompasses Rye, said that she was “shocked” by the county executive’s action and that it shows he doesn’t respect the board’s role in the legislative process or as a check on the executive branch.
Arthur Stampleman lives on Milton Road in Rye and characterized the cut as “mean” because it gave senior citizens and caregivers from a nearby senior citizens complex so little notice. Many people depend on that bus to get to work, and they believed it had been restored, he said.
“For the people who do use it, it’s important,” Stampleman said, adding that an alternative bus line leaves out several miles of service, including the Milton Harbor House, which houses senior citizens and employs porters, cleaning staff and security who rely on the bus.
“The 13 does not take the whole route,” he said. “All they have to do is take the 13 another mile or two.”
Astorino’s move is similar to what he did last year when he canceled the county’s contract for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, known as Section 8, with the state despite the board’s override of his veto.
He did away that contract on the grounds that it was losing $500,000 a year, even after being reimbursed $4 million by the state. He also laid off 38 workers who administered it. A private entity ended up administering the program.
The county’s largest union, CSEA, then sued, but a judge ruled that restoring Section 8, was a “nullity” because there was no contract in place.
While this matter could also end up in court, it comes only weeks after Astorino and county legislators, in a rare bipartisan moment, stood together proclaiming the $1.69 billion budget was responsible because it didn’t raise taxes, protected vital services and didn’t raid the reserve fund. It also restored 187 jobs.
The county executive did, however, reject $10 million in spending for health-care centers, children’s programs, day care, Cornell Cooperative Extension and this bus line.
All of those vetoes were defeated, with Republicans and Democrats even agreeing on a few areas. But the bus contract wasn’t one of them.
Board Chairman Ken Jenkins, D-Yonkers, said Astorino has again “ignored” the board’s wishes. “We’re starting off the year with the same old, same old,” he said.
