Rockland County Sheriff compensation

To the Editor,

When Mr. Falco was elected as county sheriff he retired from his position in the sheriff Department with a $136,000 pension. Under the new county budget Sheriff Falco will receive a salary of $180,000 for his elected position. So his combined income will be $316,000 in addition to whatever benefits the position entitles him to, county vehicle, etc. While Sheriff Falco had requested additional compensation, a concerned taxpayer must question the Justification for any increase in compensation. Has Sheriff Falco addressed, controlled and reduced the annual overtime abuses in his department? It seems every year the Corrections Division within the County Sheriff Department has Officers that incur excessive amounts of overtime.

The concerned taxpayer must question the lack of management and supervision practices that allow these overtime abuses to continue year after year. While in deed this overtime I’m sure is necessary, under proper management such as reassignment of personnel, perhaps assigning more Officers to actual correction duties would reduce annual overtime. Finally, the concerned taxpayer must wonder how the Sheriff Department maintains a mounted unit, while other more affluent counties such as Westchester have seen their units disbanded.

Has anyone ever wondered how many patrol hours a day a mounted unit performs? There is so much time involved in the care of the horses/ equipment/loading/unloading/training. How much patrol time is lost on bad weather storms? Snow, rain, excessive heat, etc.

A Concerned Taxpayer,
Dave Veraja
Sloatsburg

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