Rockland County's largest employer announced yesterday that it will cut more than 1,200 local jobs over the next four years as part of a worldwide restructuring plan.
Pfizer's plan would shut all but one facility, a move Orangetown Supervisor Paul Whalen said would slice the town's tax revenue and hurt the Nanuet School District.
"This will leave a 40-percent hold in their budget if Pfizer Pearl River pulls out completely of the area," Whalen wrote in a statement.
Pearl River will remain a major research hub, but its bio-technology and consumer health care sites will close by 2014, said Chris Loder, a Pfizer spokesperson.
"It's devastating. You can't even explain the feeling behind it," said Kevin Puglia, a 30-year veteran of the company's Pearl River facility.
Pfizer didn't announce when layoffs would begin.