Levy says he will veto sex offender legislation

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy has vowed to veto legislation approved by the County Legislature last week that terminates the housing voucher program for the county’s homeless sex offender population.

Mr. Levy has 15 days from Tuesday, May 11, the day the bill was approved by the County Legislature, to veto it. It was not immediately clear when the veto will be formalized, as officials in the County Executive’s office did not return multiple calls seeking comment.

The legislation aims to put an end to the voucher system, which gives homeless sex offenders $90 a day to find lodging and a meal on their own. It also gives the Department of Social Services 30 days to find another way of housing the offenders, which they are required to do by state law.

The offenders are currently housed in trailers located at the Suffolk County Jail in Riverside and off Old Country Road in Westhampton, in the same compound as the Suffolk County Police facility there.

The bill, which passed in a 14-4 vote, also calls for no more than six offenders to be placed in emergency shelters. Housing must be under 24-hour surveillance and spread throughout the county, with only one shelter in each legislative district or township. Both of the two existing trailers are located in Southampton Town.

Presiding Officer William Lindsay, who introduced the bill, will try to override the veto, he said. He needs 12 votes, or a super majority, to do so.

Mr. Levy, though not available for comment, wrote in a draft veto that he is rejecting the legislation because it would leave the Department of Social Services unable to meet its state obligation to house the homeless.

Finding shelter for the county’s homeless sex offender population is a difficult problem, Mr. Lindsay said. He said his legislation addresses that problem, and Mr. Levy is wrong to want to veto it.

“It’s fair and it’s equitable,” he said of his bill.

Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman of Montauk, who represents the 2nd District, which includes Southampton Town and hosts both trailers, said he wasn’t surprised by Mr. Levy plans to veto the legislation. He criticized the county executive for lacking leadership on this issue.

“Rather than blocking it, he should be working with us,” Mr. Schneiderman said. “Which he’s not.”

Mr. Schneiderman, who voted in favor of the bill, predicted that the legislature would override the veto.

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Services spokesperson criticized the legislation, saying that the voucher system has been successful elsewhere.

“We oppose any plan that prohibits us from using the voucher system, which we will need if this speculative process does not succeed,” Roland Hampson wrote in an e-mail. “It will take a great deal of time to implement Legislator Lindsay’s plan, if it can be implemented at all.”

Gregory Blass, the commissioner of the Department of Social Services, also did not return calls seeking comment.

After failing to find a permanent site in western Suffolk County, where most of the offenders are from, Mr. Levy announced earlier this year that the trailers would be closed and the county would transition to a voucher system. That move has been delayed though because the County Legislature has not increased the Department of Social Services’ petty cash fund to pay for the vouchers.

The trailers have prompted protests from the East End residents since they were placed in 2007.