By Legislator Viviana L. Russell
Nassau County’s Voluntary Retirement Incentive Program (VSIP) rightly rewards our hardworking public servants for their dedication to our residents. However, it must be implemented in a manner that does not jeopardize the operation of critical county departments that keep people safe.
On January 26, I joined my colleagues in a unanimous vote to approve VSIP. This program will afford union members of any age with more than 10 consecutive years of full-time county employment the opportunity to receive a lump sum payment of $2,000 for each year of their consecutive, full-time county service as of the date of their resignation.
The Corrections Officers Benevolent Association (COBA), the Nassau County Detectives Association (DAI), Inspectors Police Benevolent Association (IPBA), Police Benevolent Association (PBA), Superior Officers Association (SOA) and Civil Service Employee Association (CSEA) Local 830 have all signed agreements to offer this incentive to their members.
According to the experts at Nassau County’s independent, nonpartisan Office of Legislative Budget Review, this brings the potential for a substantial impact upon our workforce. As many as 3,401 union members within the county’s 7,585-person workforce are eligible to access this benefit. The county administration has estimated that approximately 40% of the eligible workers will take the offer, with many coming from the pool of qualified employees over the age of 55.
Under those projections, several already strapped departments stand to absorb the largest number of retirees, and it is worrisome that there seems to be little strategy in place to address those potential shortfalls. My concern grows even stronger when you consider how departments that are vital to public safety will be hit hardest.
Within the group of 999 CSEA employees aged 55 and over, 192 are civilians in the Nassau County Police Department and 174 are in the Department of Social Services. When you pair those figures with existing vacancies in the departments, the number of potential unstaffed positions soars to 310 and 264, respectively.
The issue becomes even more serious as we pursue our roles as fiduciaries of the county. Many of these positions, and the caseloads they handle, provide the county with much-needed state and/or federal revenue in the form of reimbursements as the work that is performed. Reducing the workforce could therefore curtail revenues and reduce VSIP’s overall savings potential.
Within the group of 55-and-above employees in our law enforcement bargaining units, there are 123 members from COBA, 75 from the PBA, 71 from SOA, 40 from DAI and 24 from IPBA. Paired with existing vacancies, the shortfall climbs by another several hundred unfulfilled roles.
When you consider the roles of these specific departments, such deficiencies are a cause for concern, and it requires a targeted response. Civilians in the Nassau County Police Department respond to 911 calls from residents who are in urgent, immediate need of emergency services, and our sworn officers do yeoman’s work to keep our communities safe each and every day. Nassau’s dedicated Department of Social Services staff oversee and address critical issues of child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, homelessness, and more.
Moreover, these are taxing, demanding careers in which public servants address life-and-death issues amidst heartbreaking scenarios. The risk of burnout is significant, and this leads to greater attrition. Slashing the workforce would only exacerbate these issues and further increase the risk of burnout. A plan is necessary to prevent this avoidable outcome.
However, under persistent question by myself and members of the Legislature’s Democratic Minority, the county administration had few concrete answers on how they would prevent labor shortfalls from worsening further, other than to conduct routine backfill exercises to replenish staffing. This is neither adequate nor sustainable, and a more aggressive and proactive approach is necessary.
In signing off on the VSIP, the Nassau Interim Finance Agency (NIFA) correctly directed the county administration to closely monitor VSIP’s implementation to ensure sensitive positions are backfilled in a timely manner. Accordingly, it is essential for the Legislature to receive routine written updates from the administration, advising us on who is departing and how this will impact vacancies, caseloads, statutory obligations, and potential revenue impacts for federally and state reimbursable positions.
By working proactively and collaboratively, we can uphold our responsibilities as county fiduciaries, safeguard critical county operations from adverse impacts, and ensure that sufficient resources remain in place to keep our communities safe and healthy, while preserving the quality of services our residents fund and depend upon.