Suffolk OKs $4.6 billion budget, multiyear AME contract

On the same day Suffolk lawmakers approved a $4.59 billion operating budget for 2027, they also signed off on an agreement Wednesday with the county's largest municipal union on a contract that raises pay by 17% over five years. 

The Suffolk County Legislature approved the agreement between the county and the Suffolk County Association of Municipal Employees, which had been without a contract since the end of 2024.

Union president Terry Maccarrone called the deal a "first step" in addressing lagging salaries he said has made recruitment and retention increasingly difficult among the union’s wide-ranging membership that includes blue- and white-collar workers. The union represents about 5,400 active employees.

"The road to finalizing this contract proposal has been long, and our membership has been increasingly anxious for it to be completed," he said to lawmakers before the vote.

The legislators unanimously approved the agreement — with two members absent — during a special meeting in Hauppauge where they also passed County Executive Edward P. Romaine's 2027 operating budget.

The budget includes funds in a contingency account totaling about $43 million to cover the remaining outstanding contracts. The last contract to be settled would be with the Suffolk County Detective Investigator's Police Benevolent Association — the smallest police union.

The AME contract, which runs through 2029, will be presented to the union members Nov. 12 and a vote to ratify the deal will likely begin the following week, Maccarrone told Newsday. The process will likely be completed by December, he said. The contract requires a simple majority approval from the membership.

"The members of AME are the men and women who keep the county running every single day. It was time they were treated fairly," Romaine said in a statement.

 Longevity pay, a one-time, annual payment, begins in Year 5 under the new contract rather than Year 10, Maccarrone said. The longevity pay at year 5 starts at $960 and increases each year in the contract to $1,440 in 2029. For the longest tenured employees who reach Year 30, the current longevity pay of $2,750 would increase to $4,800 in 2029.

Maccarrone said the fund for ancillary benefits like dental and vision had been "woefully underfunded" and will see a "significant increase" over the five years. The increase is front-loaded with a $350 bump in contributions per member in the first year. Subsequent increases are $50 per year, according to the agreement.

A tuition reimbursement program that allows county employees to be paid for courses related to a civil service title also increases from $200,000 to $500,000 per year, he said.

The agreement also changes a cap on overtime, which currently keeps certain employees from collecting extra pay. Maccarrone said some members declined promotions because losing overtime would decrease their pay. The contract expands the eligibility, he said.

"That’s going to be really, really big," Maccarrone said.

The approved county budget, meantime, includes a $5 per session increase for the rate of pay for occupational, physical and speech therapy required for preschool children with disabilities.

The increase from $55 to $60 will help fund what advocates have said were more than two decades of stagnant reimbursement rates. The rate had previously been increased from $45 to $55 in 2025 and advocates in the field have requested legislators increase the funding again at several meetings this year.

The legislature approved an amendment during the budget workshop process to allow the increase to take effect Jan. 1, instead of  July 1, 2027, as it had been set in the preliminary budget.

Legis. Steven Flotteron (R-Brightwaters), who chaired the operating budget working group, said the increase will allow the providers to receive pay that is competitive with other counties in the state.  

The county's 2027 operating budget takes effect Jan. 1.

By Joe Werkmeister

joe.werkmeister@newsday.com

Joe Werkmeister joined Newsday in 2022 and covers Suffolk County government and politics. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and previously worked as the editor of two North Fork community newspapers.

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