New York's Suffolk County is expediting the merger of its comptroller and treasurer offices.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and Comptroller John Kennedy announced on May 27 that an agreement has been reached with county legislators to move up the merger date to January 2016, two years ahead of schedule. The consolidation, which was approved in a referendum vote last November with 62% support, is expected to save the Long Island municipality more than $3 million annually when factoring in staff cuts and reduced technology costs, according to Bellone.
"I have always felt that merging these offices was sound public policy to save taxpayer dollars," said Bellone in a statement. "This is a common-sense plan, which respects the will of the voters to merge these offices and save taxpayer dollars."
Suffolk County is rated A3 by Moody's Investors Service. The county is located on the eastern portion of Long Island with a population around 1.5 million.
