RVC comptroller Schussheim retires

Longtime Comptroller Michael Schussheim, who successfully managed Rockville Centre’s budgets and finances and helped the village earn high marks from the nation’s top credit agencies, has retired after almost 30 years on the job.

Schussheim, 58, stepped down in late October. “I worked in Rockville Centre for nearly 29-plus years,” he said, “and I felt I reached a point in my life that I would like to take a step back and explore other possibilities.”

The village has retained the services of BST Accounting while it searches for his successor.

During his tenure, Schussheim worked for both the current mayor, Francis X. Murray, and his father, former Mayor Eugene Murray, and vastly improved the village’s finances. He also served as the village administrator three times from 2002 to 2012..

“The Village of Rockville Centre enjoys top ratings from many of the credit rating agencies like Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s due to the hard work that Mike and his team have accomplished during his tenure,” the current mayor said. “He has implemented policies and procedures for our village that have been recognized as sound fiscal practices, and it will serve us well into the future.”

Schussheim arrived in Rockville Centre as a deputy comptroller. When he was named comptroller, he learned that the village’s credit ratings were less than stellar after average reviews by Moody’s Investors Service and Standard and Poor’s. Moody’s threatened to lower the village’s rating from A1, considered an upper-medium grade, to A2.

Instead, Schussheim said, he managed to stabilize the village’s finances and helped Rockville Centre recover to a high-level AA3 grade. The village reached Standard and Poor’s’ premier Triple-A rating for the first time in January 2015.

Schussheim said he was also proud of keeping villagers’ taxes low, maintaining a fully funded general budget, and submitting timely and accurate reports.

The most challenging aspects of his job, he said, were the unforeseen financial setbacks that occurred early in his tenure. “We experienced very significant premium increases for health insurance and a very significant increase in sanitation disposal rate, [and] we experienced significant reductions in New York state aid,” he said. “Those were very challenging.”

In 2014, the village received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association for its comprehensive annual fiscal report. Because Schussheim was primarily responsible for that distinction, he was presented the Financial Reporting Achievement Award.

Schussheim said he wants to be remembered as “someone who balanced different needs of village taxpayers, village management and village employees.” Despite the fact that he is leaving the top financial job vacant, he is confident that Rockville Centre will continue to thrive financially.

“The village is on very solid financial ground,” he said.