We as a nation are in so many ways better off for having unions to advocate on behalf of workers’ rights. But do taxpayers have an obligation to pay union leaders so they can be freed up from their regular jobs in order to lobby on behalf of the union? I think not. In fact, I think it can easily be said that such taxpayer subsidies are unconstitutional, or at least may violate state statutes against gifts with no public purpose.

The Suffolk County Executive’s 2017 budget calls for cuts to numerous bus routes serving the working class, as well as cuts to a plethora of not-for-profit agencies. The county could free up $2-3 million annually for these needed routes and agencies if we simply stop paying for the concept of “union leave.”

As a former elected official who had a responsibility to negotiate with the unions on behalf of taxpayers, I could never fully understand why I was negotiating against a full slate of union leaders who were being paid by taxpayers to lobby against taxpayers’ interest. Now, don’t get me wrong, I fully respect and appreciate the important role the union leaders play in ensuring their hard-working members are properly protected (and fully support the concept that employees who get the benefits of a contract should have to pay their dues), but why should taxpayers be footing the bill for the union leaders to do their union work when the union leader is not performing any service for the taxpayer? God bless these leaders for their advocacy, but they should be paid out of union dues.

At the same time that unions are being subsidized to the tune of $3 million annually, the PBA union fund in Suffolk is so flush that they are able to expend hundreds of thousands of dollars on lobbying for or against candidates and for a new building they just purchased in Brentwood for $4.5 million.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to use money presently slated for union leave for our not-for-profits or bus routes that help the needy?

New York is not alone in having to deal with this burden. In fact, over $122 million a year of taxpayer funds are expanded to provide union leave for federal union leaders, according to the Mackimac Policy Center in Michigan. Word is out that President-elect Trump will be seeking a revocation of this policy.

Meanwhile, many localities and states are pushing to end this taxpayer expense; through legislation in Michigan and by lawsuits in Idaho in Pennsylvania. As recently as 2014, an Arizona court held the practice as being an unconstitutional gift.

Will New York taxpayers finally be spared this burden as well? My efforts to end these payments were thwarted. But now, with painful cuts being implemented and the county selling off its buildings for cash, perhaps it’s time for the legislature to reconsider.

Levy is president of Common Sense Strategies, a political consulting firm. He served as Suffolk County Executive, a state Assemblyman, and host of “The Steve Levy Radio Show.”

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