Rockland's Deficit Bond Talks Stall in State Senate

A bill that would’ve allowed Rockland County to issue a bond for up to $80 million stalled in the state senate’s last session until January.

The county and state officials found out Thursday night the bill wasn’t going through, said State Senator David Carlucci.

“I was working on my colleagues on it and then at the 11th hour, the state majority decided to not doing any deficit financing throughout the state,” Carlucci said Friday. “It was extremely disappointing.”

With the decision, if county and state officials want to try again for the bond, they’ll have to wait until January, when the next state senate session is. Still, Carlucci noted the county will have to take other actions before then.

“I’m going to work with my colleagues in the state and county so we can fix Rockland County’s budget crisis,” Carlucci said. “We have to get Rockland on the right track.”

Carlucci said getting Rockland on the right track will be a focus of the summer and rest of the year. One big thing Carlucci thinks can help to get Rockland moving positively is figuring out what to do with Summit Park Hospital and Nursing Home.

“I’ve been on the phone with the county legislators, with the county executive to talk about what we can do on a county level and what we can do on a state level,” Carlucci said. “We’re having ongoing talks trying to work through this.”