Strapped county sacks Santa to save $660

[FarCenter]

(Reuters) - Faced with the difficult task of balancing a budget in austere times, officials in New York's Suffolk County said on Friday they had no choice: they had to sack Santa Claus.

The county executive said he could not justify carving out $660 from his $2.7 billion budget to pay David McKell, 83, a World War II veteran and former homicide detective, to don his Santa suit for the tenth year running and greet children on Long Island.

"How do you justify that expenditure when a health center is losing money?" Steve Levy, the Suffolk County Executive, said in an interview.

He said that some 750 county employees were facing layoffs as a result of budget restraints, including what he described as a $20 million cut in state aid to the county's health system.

"Let either the private sector come forward with a donation, or, better yet, let's tap the volunteers in the community," he said.

Levy was quickly called a Grinch by his opponents.

...

In the end, Steve Bellone, the current town supervisor of nearby Babylon, who is running as the Democratic candidate to succeed Levy, said he would pay for Santa.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/07/us-santa-odd-idUSTRE7A63CJ20111107

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. glad the dem is paying for santa. n/t

[HopeHoops]

2. Just see if THOSE fuckers get any presents.

[geardaddy]

3. I wonder what O'Loofa will say now that Tis the season for the WOC?

[denverbill]

7. Is it that time already? None of my propaganda emails listed a date.

This is the most poorly organized war ever.

[bluestateguy]

4. Seems they could raise donations to pay the fee

nt

[Downwinder]

5. Thought he just got cookies and milk.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

6. I'm kind of with them on this.

Why are they paying someone to play Santa? Just get a volunteer. That's just...weird.
Duckie

[Lionessa]

11. +1 Furthermore gov'ts shouldn't be paying for religious garbage,

and like it or not, Christmas is a religious situation.

[valerief]

13. Santa isn't religious. He's commercial. He's not in the Bible or Koran or Torah or anything. nt

[Downwinder]

14. The Chamber of Commerce should pay him.

[valerief]

18. The Hamptons can't afford to pay a Santa. The Hamptons. The Hamptons. The Hamptons. nt

[jaysunb]

8. Will a 1% er step for this ??

I hope so. :shrug:

[valerief]

9. The friggin' Hamptons are in Suffolk County! But there's no friggin' money???

Are there no property taxes there or something?

[MADem]

10. I saw this on TV the other day, and I personally have a bit of an issue with the county paying

for frigging Santa in the first place.

The way to go with that sort of thing IS with private donations.

Hopefully, the guy who did the donation this year will set up a private fund to pay Santa in the outyears, and maybe donate the excess to some other charity, like Toys for Tots or some kind of homeless outreach.

[Shagbark Hickory]

12. Why is a governement office paying for a religious icon mascott dress-up thing to begin with?

Let me guess, to get people in the mood to do some shopping?

[Fire Walk With Me]

15. In times of austerity, people do good things for each other because they WANT to

not because they are paid to.

[dtexdem]

16. If they sack Santa, will they put a bow on the sack?

Some cheery Xmas wrapping paper would be nice. ;-)

[progressoid]

17. OMG it is a WAR ON CHRISTMAS!!11!