By Jonathan Allen
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 (411.37 pounds) 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 centre 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.
