. . .And Lots Of Taxpayer Dollars, Too!

Seems that those local water districts (aren't they special?) are up to their old tricks again. This time, they're squirreling away tax money above and way beyond what is customarily considered necessary. In some cases, they have enough money on hand to run all district operations for years.

A rainy-day fund, perhaps? Well, when it rains it pours -- tax dollars, that is. Money out of YOUR pocket, right into the coffers of Long Island water districts.

According to a study conducted by the office of Nassau County Comptroller, Howard Weitzman, 19 commissioner-run water districts in Nassau County had more than $59.9 million in the bank.

If you reside in the Garden City Park Water District, there's enough taxpayer money in the district's bank account to cover 2 years of service. In the Cathedral Gardens (West Hempstead) Water District, there's enough money in the till to operate for 7 1/2 years, without taking another penny from taxpayers (but, of course, they will).

So, with all this money on hand, what are the "locally elected" water commissioners going to do?

Disney World? A new gas-guzzling SUV? Wide-screen HDTVs for every employee?

One thing is certain. The Water Districts are not likely to be refunding any part of this surplus to homeowners or businesses. Nor is a tax cut in special district taxes in the offing.

Folks, it looks like, while you weren't watching the pot, it boiled over!
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Want more information about the special taxing districts on Long Island? Click HERE to check out Residents for Efficient Special Districts (RESD).
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From the Nassau County Comptroller:

Weitzman finds many water districts squirrel away so much money they could operate for years without new revenue

Comptroller calls for money to be returned to property taxpayers and water users

A report released today by Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman on the 19 commissioner-run water districts in Nassau revealed that jointly, the districts had an extra $59.9 million in the bank. The report looked at the December 31, 2007 balances.

According to the report, the Cathedral Gardens Water District in West Hempstead has accumulated enough excess funds to operate for seven and half years without collecting any more money from residents and the Garden City Park Water District could operate for two years using its $7.2 million bank account. These districts could stop charging their customers for years and still be able to deliver water to the taps of homeowners.

"In this time of extreme fiscal pressure on our local tax payers, it is more important than ever that governments limit taxes and charges to those that are absolutely necessary,” Weitzman said “Taxpayers are better stewards of their money than government. They should not be asked to prepay several years’ worth of taxes for possible future use. Instead, these districts should be offering taxpayers a substantial reduction in water charges.”

Most governments keep a small amount of excess funds from their operating budget as fund balance. For example, Nassau County aims to keep about 4-5% of its prior year budget as fund balance and school districts are authorized by the State to keep 4% of the current year’s budget as fund balance. The Government Financial Officer’s Association (GFOA) recommends a fund balance of between 5-15%. Weitzman’s report states that every one of the 19 water districts have accumulated more fund balance than the state law permits for schools, or the 5-15% standard set by the GFOA. Cathedral Gardens has 763% of its operating budget in fund balance; Garden City Park, 198% and Franklin Square, 124%.

Recently, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has been critical of several school districts on Long island that carry a high fund balance.

"Collectively, these commissioner-run water districts should be holding no more than $3.9 million in fund balance and returning the excess $56 million to their hard-pressed tax payers,” Weitzman said. “Taxpayers could have used this money for their own benefit instead of padding the districts’ bank accounts.”

Water districts collect user charges and property taxes. At 2007 operating costs, Manhasset-Lakeville has 3 years and 4 months worth of property taxes in the bank, Garden City Park has 3 years and 3 months of property taxes in the bank and Franklin Square has 3 years and 1 month of property taxes in the bank. Bethpage, Oyster Bay, South Farmingdale and Albertson all have over two years’ worth of property tax collections in the bank. Eight districts had accumulated between one and two years’ worth of property taxes.

"Commissioner-run districts have argued that they are saving money by accumulating large fund balances to pay for future major repairs or capital projects,” Weitzman said. “In effect, they are taking money from current residents to finance future benefits instead of using long-term borrowing to spread the cost over future years. Not only is this unfair, but it can also avoid Town oversight over district borrowing."

"Vastly over collecting from tax payers is unnecessary and not in their best interest,” Weitzman added. “Tax payers have better use of their money then to send it to sit in district bank accounts.”

Click HERE for Commissioner Run Water Disticts Fund Balances

Unscrupulous Landlords Prey Upon Those With Limited Resources And No Rights

Hello,

I live in Dobbs Ferry in an illegal apartment. Beacause of my lack of rights as a tenant renting in an illegal apartment, I am forced to move. I live in the basement with extremely loud and inconsiderate people upstairs. For the first two years I tried to make it work, pretending I was really living at home and those were my brothers making all the noise upstairs. Right!! We were raised properly and had manners. I tried talking to them , writing notes and banging on the ceiling.

Well, the truth of it is the couple upstairs are 60+ Italian immigrants whose brother in-law owns the house but does not live here. In the beginning I was told I could use the garage for storage. That changed when he decided to use his garage to store his mason materials and diesel truck. He then cut down the tree in the back yard, and turned it into a parking lot for his hispanic assistant masons and their vehicles to park!!! So now I get to hear a diesal truck, electric garage door opening and two cars ten feet from my head start every morning at 7 AM seven days a week. The lazy fat man upstairs decided he was too above parking on the street and began parking on the grass like trailer park trash. I complained to the landlord. He replanted seed and put up a temporary fence which they had to nerve to take down!!

Now there is the issue of the fat retired wife lacking any hobbies whatsoever except to hang her wet dripping laundry over my entrance door every day over 40 degrees. She also takes in laundry. Why should I have to look at other peoples' underwear and girdles?? Disgusting. If this were in an apartment building, this would never be allowed. I complained to the town of Dobbs Ferry about violating the law of parking too close to a building and to my entrance door. Nothing was done.

Next there is the issue of no carpeting except the ones I gave them. What about the law in NY demanding 80% of your floors to be covered? Not in this case. Besides them walking like elephants every morning at 5 AM, I have to listen to the grandchildren running back and forth non stop for up to six hours several times a week. Of course, they have to leave on their shoes. When they are alsleep or gone, then I have to listen to the loud tv from 8 PM til after 10 over my bedroom. Did I mention he wears a hearing aid- but obviously not always!! All I ask is that I have one room in my apartment where they are quiet above my head.

I cannot enforce any of my rights as a tenant since this is an illegal apartment. This jerk upstairs even threatned to harm me twice if I were to complain again about their noise. I made two police reports. Better yet, I went on the Mike and Juliet Morning Show on a segmant called "Nasty Neighbors."

Of all the people responding to their post about who had nasty neighbors in the tri state area, I was chosen to have the worst. I have a recording of him threatening to punch me in the face. Apparently, the garbage men did not stand up the cans after emptying them like they do twice a week all over the United States. He decided it was my fault for some psychotic reason.

I complained recently to my landlord about them being loud before 9 AM only over my bedroom, again, which was always my main request. He came over and yelled at me for calling his house to complain. He then told me I have to leave the hallway light off unless I am in it. Another violation?? During the same visit, he also yelled at me for having my lights on in my apartment when I am home!! Definitely inbreds!!

So, am I for or against illegal apartments?? Guess!! As tenants, we have no rights whatsoever. I was never informed this apartment was not legal.

I am now moving to a legal apartment building where I do have rights. I would love to report the landlord so no one ever has to go through this. Moving is a costly expense. Feel free to post this wherever you like.

Diane Hoppmann
Dobbs Ferry, New York
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What is the impact of illegal accessory apartments where you live? Do your neighbors -- or you -- have tenants living in your basement? Are you a tenant in an illegal apartment, at the mercy of a landlord who just doesn't care about anything other than that rent check? What, if anything, is your town or village doing to curb or eradicate illegal rental apartments in single-family homes?

The Community Alliance would like to hear from you. E-mail us at thecommunityalliance@yahoo.com.

Murray Proposes 6.6% Tax Hike For Hempstead Town

It wasn’t all that long ago that Town of Hempstead Supervisor, Kate Murray, was issuing press releases and generating Murraygrams (at taxpayer expense) to announce that she was “holding the line” on property taxes, or, as if leaving homeowners out in the cold was something to be proud of, “freezing” town taxes.

Well, no press release or Murraygram to accompany the proposed Town of Hempstead budget for 2009, where homeowners in the unincorporated areas of the township will, if Kate Murray has her way, “enjoy” a 6.6% increase in town-imposed property taxes – not including any hike in special district taxes, the control over which the town summarily disavows.

Harkin back to the days of former Supervisor Rich Guardino, who was plucked from elected office as Town Supervisor for a presumably more colloquial life in academia. Rich left the town in relatively good stead, financially, with an “official” surplus of some $50 million dollars. [We say “officially,” as those in the know in Hempstead Town at the time put that surplus closer to $100 million.]

Enter Kate Murray and, lo and behold, that surplus mysteriously evaporates into thin air.

Where did all that money go? To fix town roads? Hardly. To make local government more efficient? Don’t make us laugh. Back to the taxpayers? Now, you’re pushing it.

Turning surpluses into deficits, and growing government, rather than shrinking it, is not only the stuff that Washington, D.C. is made of, or so it would appear as the “respected on Wall Street” crowd at Hempstead Town Hall learns, at the expense of homeowners, that “borrow and spend,” like the historical downturns in the market, eventually catches up with you.

With falling revenues and an unprecedented financial gloom hanging over Long Island, an increase in property taxes was, more or less, inevitable. Credit is tight. State aid to localities is harder to come by. Costs are, as Kate Murray aptly puts it in her budget statement, “skyrocketing.”

Still, a 6.6% increase in the already onerous tax burden is a bit much to be shouldered by Town of Hempstead homeowners, already straining to keep afloat in a sea of rising school and county taxes, and home values that, in some neighborhoods, have declined as much as 20% over the past year. This is especially so when, year after year, the Supervisor has boasted as to the town’s fiscal prowess and financial muscle.

And why is it that the poor souls without benefit of village life – the abandoned and neglected of unincorporated hovels like Elmont, Baldwin, Uniondale, and West Hempstead, to name but a few – are called upon to bear the cost of the town’s tax hike, while the incorporated get a free ride under the Supervisor’s proposal?

Then again, why ask? It would seem that the unincorporated hitherlands, with little say, and even less in the way of actual representation, are the favorite dumping grounds for the Town of Hempstead’s refuse, both literally and figuratively.

Kate Murray, having gratuitously turned America’s largest town into America’s most blighted township, now looks to add a new mark upon the cross us townies must bear: The Town of Hempstead – America’s most taxed township.

Yes, if you want the services – such as those provided by lighting districts, parking districts, refuse disposal districts, and the like (sorry folks, but sanitary districts and water districts will cost you extra, as they’re not included in the town tab), you have to pay the price.

And for the 6.6% extra you’ll cough up toward Kate’s kitty in 2009, the town will throw in an Urban Renewal Plan here, and a Condemnation Proceeding there. [If you dig deep enough into your pocket, you may even get a Victorian-style lamp post, or two.]

Kate Murray. Trusted on Main Street no more!
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From The Three Village Times

Opinion

Wrong Time to Raise Taxes?
Not for Town of Hempstead

During the Presidential campaign, Republican candidate, Senator John McCain, has said that now is the wrong time to raise taxes. Senator McCain believes with a struggling economy, additional taxes would put another hardship on taxpayers. But don't tell that to the Town of Hempstead. With families hurting with possible escalating oil prices for the winter and a troubled market, Republican Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray plans on increasing taxes for residents of the unincorporated areas of the town such as West Hempstead, Franklin Square and Elmont by 6.6 percent or $45.90 over the 2008 budget, according to Murray's 2009 budget message.

Supervisor Murray cites plummeting mortgage revenues as well as softening sales tax receipts as pressures that come with the 2009 budget. However, the 2009 budget proposal calls for a $4.9 million spending increase over the 2008 budget.

With families hurting financially, residents need their government officials to keep spending in check. However, it seems that the easier solution is to go to the taxpayers for more money in order to feed the machine of government.

The town should at least take a longer look at its budget before having to ask the taxpayers to pay even more money. If you live in Elmont, West Hempstead and Franklin Square, the unincorporated areas, you will find yourself paying more money and what have you gotten in return?

In West Hempstead, many residents simply want the Courtesy Hotel to close. Nothing has happened yet. In Elmont, people want a redevelopment of areas that are underdeveloped. Nothing has happened yet.

Perhaps if the town were to act on some of the projects that never seem to get done, then more revenue will be brought in and there will be no need to ask homeowners to pay more than they are already paying. It's time for the town to do more for these residents than just tax them.

- Joe Rizza

The writer is the editor of the Three Village Times.

And To The New York State Senate

We are witness to history, both across this great land and here on Long Island.

A new direction for America, and the end of the Grand Old Party's forty-year reign in the State Senate.

In the depths of America's Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President of the United States, and Americans, forlorn, tired, fearful, and hopeless, could be heard singing the refrains of Happy Days Are Here Again.

For these United States and, perhaps, the world, a new day dawns. A new day where hope triumphs over fear, confidence supplants uncertainty, divisiveness succumbs to civility, and that which tears nations and people apart gives way to a new wave of cooperation that brings everyone together for the common good of all mankind.

A New New Deal for America; an opportunity to live out the dream of Camelot as the world watches this nation lead again.

As Sarah heads back to Wasilla, and Joe-the-Plumber looks for work at Hempstead Town Hall (where plumbers really do make $100,000 a year), we look toward Albany, where, by a narrow two-seat majority, power (if not authority) shifts in the State Senate from red to blue.

Time to put partisan bickering behind us, to cross the aisle, to work together for the benefit of all New Yorkers, cutting property taxes, bringing parity and common sense to the State aid formulae so that none of our children are left behind, funding the unfunded mandates, and, yes, at long last, passing that bigger, better bottle bill.

"Yes We Can" has been the mantra of the Obama campaign, and must be the modus operandi of every elected representative from the State Capitol to Town Hall.

Then, and only then, can we end the stalemate that stymies progress and holds every one of us prisoner to yesterday's fears and failures.

Change has come to America. Let us make this our defining moment.

Cue the balloons.

Nassau County Homeowners Get An October Surprise

You knew it was coming. After all, we told you so!

Homeowners in many of Long Island’s school districts – at least in Nassau County, where school property tax bills recently went out – displayed both shock and dismay when they saw as much as a double-digit increase on the bottom line. Ouch!

Of course, this should come as no surprise to anyone, with rising costs for such staples as utilities and transportation (not to mention the staples themselves), coupled with a substantial reduction in the State’s STAR outlays to Long Island school districts.

Yes, the hand that put that STAR rebate check into one pocket, now deftly reaches into the other pocket to take what little may be left in your wallet.

Whose to blame here?

The school districts? Well, curb spending and cut costs to the bare bone, where you can, but someone’s got to meet those contractual obligations (from salaries to insurance), and ante up to pay for the mandates yet unfunded by either the State or the feds.

The State Legislature? With the Assembly failing to adopt legislation imposing a cap – with or without circuit breaker – the continued reliance on an antiquated system of aid formulae that few, even in the education arena, can comprehend, and Long Island getting back less that 25 cents for every single tax dollar it sends to Albany, why, the sky’s the limit for school property tax increases.

We know. Let’s blame it on the Assessor. Harvey, before you retire to Florida, tell us where we can send our property tax bills.

It’s the perfect storm, really. Inaction in Albany. Expenses for school districts, as they are for most of us, going through the roof. Disparity in State Aid, based on a confounding mix of formulae that both time and reason hath forgot, between the nearly full-funding received by upstate districts and the paltry sums that trickle down to Long Island.

The proverbial ship has hit the fan, folks. And with New York’s deficit deepening, and debt mounting, don’t look up the Hudson for anybody to bail us out.

Hey, we warned you about spending that STAR rebate check. Foolish homeowners. You thought you could use that money to put food on the table, make your next mortgage payment, or buy books next semester for your daughter in college. Let that be a lesson to us all!
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From Newsday:

School-tax hikes in Nassau anger residents
BY JOHN HILDEBRAND john.hilderbrand@newsday.com

More than 75,000 homeowners in Nassau County are getting socked with double-digit -percentage hikes in school taxes - a shock for many in a year when school districts raised tax levies an average of about 4 percent.

While overall district levy increases are the lowest in a decade, 70 percent of individual Nassau homeowners are seeing tax hikes exceeding 4 percent in bills received earlier this month. And about one homeowner in every five is getting an increase of 10 percent or more, according to figures prepared by the County Assessor's Office at Newsday's request.

Tax levies are the total amount raised through local property taxes to pay for school expenses; levy increases may be higher or lower than tax hikes on individual homes.

In response to widespread complaints from Nassau taxpayers, school and county officials explain that much of the rise in taxes is beyond the control of schools themselves.

Contributing factors include a continued rise in taxable values of homes due to a lag in assessments, along with reductions in the state's STAR tax credits, which are paid to schools in lieu of property taxes.

Many homeowners find such explanations difficult to fathom, especially at a time when actual housing prices in their own neighborhoods are starting to sag.

"I went off my rocker!" said Tom Lavin, of Woodbury, a retiree who saw school taxes on his high-ranch home jump 10.7 percent.

A friend, Eleanor Hund, who lives in neighboring Syosset, said she was "shocked" by a 14.5 percent rise in her taxes.

In contrast, the Syosset-Woodbury school budget, approved by residents in May, carried a tax-levy increase of 5.98 percent.

At the time, local school officials said they couldn't estimate the effect of that levy on individuals' property taxes because factors needed to calculate those taxes, such as home assessments, had not been finalized.

State and county authorities note that much of the extra taxes are offset by another form of STAR payments - rebate checks mailed directly to homeowners. In Nassau County, most checks range from $170 to $860 per household, depending on income and other factors, with payments as high as $1,026 for older residents with limited incomes.

Some of those authorities acknowledge, however, that homeowners' burdens could increase substantially next year, if the state cuts back on rebates in response to a weakening economy.

On Tuesday, Gov. David A. Paterson projected next year's state budget deficit at $12.5 billion.

"If the state is short of money, they could cut anything," said Nassau County Assessor Harvey Levinson.

Figures prepared by the assessor's office show that about 233,000 residences out of a total 333,000 in the county got school tax hikes of more than 4 percent, while 76,000 got increases of 10 percent or more. The total excluded about 52,000 residences where tax hikes were affected by changes in exemptions and other special circumstances.

Levinson says he sympathizes with homeowners who wonder why assessed values continue to climb in the face of a weakening market. Assessments, he explains, are based not on current housing prices, but on prices paid in 2006 and the latter half of 2005.

The reason for this time lag: a state law requiring the county to set assessments early, in order to give property owners time to appeal before receiving their tax bills.

Homeowners also are confused, Levinson adds, by the state's practice of dividing STAR money between payments going directly to them and payments going to school districts. The assessor contends that all STAR money should go to schools, because this would make distribution cheaper and allow schools to curb taxes further.

State lawmakers defend the current system, on grounds that it ensures homeowners benefit directly.

STAR rebates do not go to owners of commercial property, however. Richard M. Bivone, whose East Meadow firm provides fire-safety services, saw the school tax bill on one of his offices recently rise 7.7 percent, even though the East Meadow school district raised its levy 4.7 percent.

"It's debilitating, because there's no end in sight," said Bivone, who is president of the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce.

The rate-setting system also creates headaches for school officials, who have only limited control.

"This is one of the most difficult things to explain to taxpayers," said Leon Campo, superintendent in the East Meadow district, "because we're explaining the work of someone else."

Suffolk's tax bills go out in December.

Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.
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The View From John Q. Public:

What were Long Island residents thinking last May when most approved low single digit school tax increases? Did they really think those numbers were going to hold up?

School administrators and boards have known for years how to hide surplus cash. Now they have mastered the art of playing with tax rates and property valuations. Schools put budgets up for vote in May. What people are actually voting on is the total spending amount but schools are always out their SELLING the tax increase amount. In 2008 this amounted to an average 4% increase.

So, how do schools determine the tax rate that they are SELLING to the public? It’s so simple, even a cave man could do it. They take the amount of money they want to take from us, subtract the amount of money they are to get from grants, federal and state sources and divide it by the prior years actual assessed property value which they adjust so they can back into the tax rate they feel they can SELL. Bottom line, they play games with the numbers and can sell whatever tax rate they need for budget approval. Then when the actual assessed values come out in October (like we see today), the real tax comes to light. Some schools like Wantagh and Patchogue have seen through this scam and reject even single digit tax increases.

Schools start working on their budgets in November so as we get into the 2009 school budget season, school boards and administrators will have some huge hurdles to overcome and find new ways to hoodwink the public. I think their time is up! As Newsday helps educate the public on how all this works, schools will also have to deal with huge cuts in grants and state funding. More importantly, the recent economic meltdown attributed to the housing crisis (fueled by inflated property values) will put a real focus on this newly discovered new math!

Robert J. Newman
Patchogue , NY
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What's in your wallet -- and on your mind? The Community Alliance wants to know! Write us with your opinions, viewpoints, and guest blogs at thecommunityalliance@yahoo.com.

Remember, blogging is not a spectator sport!

To Elect Or Appoint? That Is The Question!

Next Tuesday, November 4th, Nassau County residents will go to the polls to elect a president, members of Congress, and State Legislators, among sundry other office holders, from judges to town council members.

Also on the ballot is a Referendum which, if passed, would replace the now-elected (for a 6-year term) Chairman of the County Board of Assessors (commonly known and often misidentified as “the Assessor”) with an appointed (for a 3-year term) Assessor, hand-chosen by the County Executive, and confirmed by the Nassau County Legislature.

The theory behind the Referendum – or at least so much of the thought process as is messaged to the public – is that an appointed Assessor depoliticizes the office, permitting this overseer of the assessment process (as sordid as it is) to do his or her job without having to engage in the customary, and, when it comes to property taxes, always derisive, electioneering.

Opponents of the Assessor-by-appointment argue, with more than nominal merit, that removing the public – whose very property is being taxed through the Assessor’s office – from the equation, chips away at John Q’s right to redress tax grievances, if for no other reason than the Assessor, no longer subject to the whim of the popular vote, would become less responsive to public representation [read as, “We’re being property-taxed to death”], and wholly beholden to the one making the appointment [read as, the Nassau County Executive]. Then again, taxation without representation has become little more than mere cliché, hasn’t it?

Those who favor appointment of the Assessor over election say that not only will the position become less political, but with the elimination of the Board of Assessors, there would be an annual cost-saving of some $250,000. [We’ll never see a penny of that, of course, but, somewhere, the books will reflect – and the County Exec will boast – a savings to the taxpayers.]

Frankly – and we’ve said this before – its not the Assessor that’s the problem, or even how he lands in office. It’s the assessment.

With a complex and convoluted process for calculating the assessment that makes the State’s maze of school aid formulae look like a game of tiddly-winks, we’ve ended up with a system that, at best, distorts home values, and, at worst, systematically robs homeowners of their ability to live in their own homes.

“Fair” is not a word that comes to mind when one discusses the property tax or its assessment, the onerous burden placed squarely upon the shoulders of homeowners, including those who, having bought into the American dream for less than they now pay every year in property taxes, are being taxed into the poorhouse (where at least they’d get “a cot and 3 hot”).

We talk about scraping the assessment system, perhaps in favor of a more equitable local income tax (Shhh. Don’t say that. Someone may accuse us of wanting to “spread the wealth”). We have even had State commissions and local study groups visit the issue, and its component parts, be they related to local government “efficiency” (gag us with a spoon) or a property tax “cap” (not a reduction; just a cap), with reports that praise the virtues of cost-cutting and consolidation, all the while urging across-the-board “reform.” [We suggest the Governor empanel a Blue Ribbon commission to study the meaning of the word “reform.” Then watch for a final report to which all conformist non-reformers can sign on to!]

But we digress. What were we talking about again? Oh yeah. The Referendum.

Whether appointing is any less – or more – political than electing is one for the ages. Are appointed judges, for instance, less political than elected judges? Or is it just the opposite?

And where that appointment must be confirmed by one of the most politicized and polarized bodies in New York, the Nassau County Legislature, could the outcome be characterized as anything but political?

What we are looking for, we are reminded, is transparency and, above all, accountability, from those who govern us, right? Or does the mere appearance of transparency and accountability suffice?

True, the electorate has been dumbed-down over the years, falling prey to campaign small talk that labels, libels, and contorts, but even Joe-The-Plumber can figure out that, in a democracy, elected trumps appointed – and where we elect the wrong person for the job, its our own fault, not the product of a back-room deal or the machinations of a legislature that bickers over minutia and lets die in committee the big stuff.

As you may recall, these guys couldn’t even agree on the appointment of a Poet Laureate for Nassau County. Perhaps, next time around, we should simply elect one!
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From the League of Women Voters of Nassau County:

Making the Nassau County Assessor an Appointed Position with
Educational and Professional Qualifications Form of Referendum:

SHALL NASSAU COUNTY LOCAL LAW NO. 7 -2008, ENTITLED "A Local Law to amend the County Government Law, in relation to the organization of the Department of Assessment and the appointment and duties of the Assessor," abolishing the County Board of Assessors and replacing the county-wide elected Chair of the Board of Assessors with an Assessor, who would be appointed by the County Executive, subject to confirmation by the County Legislature, for a term of three years and who would be required to meet standards of education and professional experience. BE APPROVED?

Proposed Abstract
This referendum seeks voter approval of a local law to amend the Nassau County Charter, in relation to the organization of the Department of Assessment and the appointment and duties of the Assessor.

The law brings Nassau County in line with most other jurisdictions throughout the State by providing for a single appointed professional County Assessor to serve as the head of the County Department of Assessment. The Charter amendment would abolish the County Board of Assessors and replace the county-wide elected Chair of the Board of Assessors with an Assessor, appointed to a three year term of office by the County Executive, subject to confirmation by the County Legislature, and required to meet professional standards of education and experience and to obtain certification as a New York State certified assessor within three years of beginning his or her initial term of office.

In addition, the proposed law amends former Charter § 607 (entitled "Correction of roll: extension of taxes") to delete obsolete language that provided for the hearing of complaints from property owners. Since the provision is inconsistent with subsequently enacted sections of State law, it has not been used for many years.

The law would become effective on January 1, 2009.

Pro:
Those who favor the referendum say it will take politics out of the Assessor’s position. There would no longer be a need for the candidate to raise money and run a political campaign, and the Assessor would not be identified with a particular party. The Assessor would have to meet professional educational and experiential requirements, thereby assuring knowledge and experience with the job. This referendum would bring Nassau County in conformity with most of the rest of the counties, 85% of which have professional Assessors.

Con:
Those against the referendum say that it robs Nassau County residents of their constitutional right of representation and their right to vote for a policy-making government official. They say that it would effectively eliminate the people’s choice and hand it over to the County Executive; that this law quashes the voices of all 1.3 million Nassau County residents. The key factor is accountability. We should leave the choice in the hands of the taxpaying voters, who should retain their right to select and elect the County Tax Assessor.

Special District Budgets Come Under Fire Anew

Well, if its Autumn, can special district elections -- at least in the fire and water districts -- be far behind?

As costs rise, particularly for fuel, budgets skyrocket, and the taxpayer/homeowner braces for yet another hit.

Yes, there is now more transparency, with fire district budget hearing dates required to be posted online by the respective townships in which they operate. But how many citizens (a) are aware of these postings, and/or (b) actually attend the budget hearings?

Whose fault is it when special district budgets rise, seemingly without limit? Okay, its the stupid economy, where we all pay more just to keep pace. More than this, however, it is the benign neglect, not so much of local government -- though they could do much more by way of oversight -- but rather, on our part, in turning the other cheek when it comes to watching where our money goes.

In these uncertain times, we should, by all rights, be guarding our wallets more dearly, and watching the pot more closely.
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From Newsday:

Fire district budgets on the rise
BY STACEY ALTHERR
stacey.altherr@newsday.com

As taxpayers across Long Island get a chance today to see how fire districts spend their money, a sampling shows volunteer agencies' budgets have continued to rise over the past four years at a steady pace.

"I don't know what's driving those increases without looking at each one individually," said William N. Young, counsel for the Association of Fire Districts of the state of New York. "Maybe it's the cost of fuel . . . Or maybe a bond issue passed by some, which would drive up the budget."

Fire districts are required by state laws enacted in 2007 to hold public hearings on the third Tuesday in October. Today fire districts will explain to residents what it costs to operate their district.A sampling of 50 fire districts shows budgets have risen by an average of 21 percent. In the Syosset Fire District, the rise in costs, about 38 percent over four years, can be attributed to a wide range of necessary expenses, said spokesman Robert Leonard.

The $7,108,700 budget is a 3.9 percent increase from last year, officials said.

"Over this period of time, we have had several capital programs, all passed by referendum, enacted to ensure the highest levels of response," Leonard said, including the leases on fire trucks, ambulances and purchases of equipment.Commack Fire District budget has risen about 50 percent over the past four years, to $3,638,427. A phone call seeking comment was not returned.

Hicksville, which at one time had the highest costs on Long Island, has decreased its budget by 7 percent in four years to a proposed $5,658,000.

"While we are always conscious of the bottom line, the safety of our residents as well as the volunteer members remains a top priority," Fire Commissioner Harry J. Single Jr. said in a statement yesterday.

Fire districts, and fire departments contracted by towns, must post the hearing time and location of meetings on town and district Web sites, message boards located at town halls and firehouses, and publicize the meetings in local newspapers five days in advance of the hearing.

As of yesterday, only the Town of North Hempstead did not post fire district hearing notices on its Web site, as required. Most districts or incorporated fire departments posted the information on either or both Web sites - the town and individual fire district sites. Young said many of the Web sites are run by the fire departments, not the districts.

The additional transparency regarding financial disclosure started with legislative bills, most enacted last year, that were introduced by Assemb. Robert Sweeney (D-Lindenhurst) after a series of Newsday stories on the lack of fire agencies oversight. Before 2007, the districts were not required to present their budgets to the public.

Louise Delgado, president of the Suffolk County Fire Districts Association, said he sees a great change in district officials' attitude toward the new transparency laws."The taxpayer needs to know how their money is being spent, and why it's being spent," he said. "With the hearings, now they can."

Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.
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Postings of Fire District Hearings by Town:

Town of Hempstead

Town of North Hempstead

Town of Oyster Bay

Town of Babylon (no posting)

Town of Brookhaven (no posting)

Town of Riverhead (no posting)

Nassau County Fire Districts

Suffolk County Fire Districts

When Hate And Fear Suppress Hope And Future

Be careful what you say. Your words may come back to haunt you.

Vitriolic personal attacks have become all too commonplace in political campaigns. Character assassinations override the issues in the minds of candidates – especially when a grasp of the issues escapes their reach.

Negative ads. Baseless innuendo. Fiction substituted for fact.

“He’s not like you or I…” “He pals around with terrorists…” “He doesn’t see things the way we do…”

Gasoline poured upon the fire, and then, shock and surprise when the conflagration threatens to consume candidate, supporter, and country.

“He’s a terrorist…” “Kill him…” “Take off his head…”

Rally turned into lynch mob. Hatred stoked. Fears played upon.

A nation with a not so distant history of lynchings, cross-burnings, and presidential assassinations incited by those who would label such mongering patriotic.

In desperation, the fire is started, with the thought, as ridiculous as it may seem, of warming the home. All too soon, its flames burn out of control, embers threatening to burn down the entire house – divided as it may stand.

Even those who lit the match realize they’ve gone too far. “You need not be scared…”, they say, to the dismay of the angry mob.

Too late.

Like a wildfire fanned by the Santa Ana winds, the fires of hate, fear, and loathing scar the American landscape, destroying everything in their path, and threatening the very fiber of our democracy.

“If we don’t go on the attack, we’ll lose the election…”

Folks, when all you’ve got to offer up is hate, fear, and mindless supposition, you’ve already lost. Frankly, we all have.

Town of Hempstead Legalizes Illegal Signs, Hires Town Attorney's Son, And Puts Seniors On Hold

Only in the Town of Hempstead!

We've long complained about all of those illegal campaign signs -- from the billboard-sized placards on fences and sides of buildings, to the "lawn" signs and "bumper" stickers adorning utility poles and electrical boxes -- standing in violation of Town Ordinance prohibiting the posting of signs, even on private property, without permit.

Not anymore, folks. The Hempstead Town Board -- the people who have brought blight to your backyards, perenially put pets before people (hold those letters from PETA), and who championed full-employment in Levittown -- has gone ahead and made those annoying, eye-polluting, and oft-times dangerous to drivers and pedestrians alike campaign signs you see plastered all over town LEGAL. [Pssst. Its still illegal to steal those lawn signs, but don't tell public safety -- or the Town Highway Department -- we said that.]

And if any of you thought that patronage was dead, oh boy. The Town of Hempstead has outdone itself, even by our standards.

Seems that Ed Ra, son of Town Attorney (and/or was that counsel to Sanitary District 6?) Joe Ra, has been put on payroll ($65,000, for starters) at Town Hall. And we thought they weren't hiring? Say it isn't so, Joe! Heck, its only the taxpayers' money. Spend on!

And while heretofore illegal signs were getting the thumbs up, and disenlightened nepotism the customary wink and nod (well, at least Ed Ra isn't from Levittown), Town of Hempstead seniors were being put on hold, the Town Board reserving decision on a proposal to lower the age for residency in an East Meadow senior development.

Hey, those seniors can wait. We need to keep those lawn signs blooming and ye olde patronage mill a-grinding. The old folks love us, no matter how we stick it to them.

Well, at least the Hempstead Town Board, in its infinite show of support for our communities, has approved an urban renewal plan for Baldwin (you know, those brick pavers, stylized benches, Victorian streetlamps. The works).

Wait. Didn't Kate Murray & Kompany approve similar urban renewal plans for the suburban hamlets of West Hempstead and Elmont, with those communities, months, if not years later, still having absolutely nothing to show for it?

Oh, stop grumbling, boys and girls. Be proud to be a part of America's most blighted township, where illegal signage now ranks right up there as facade improvement, and everyone, if not everything at Town Hall, is (a) relative.

And seniors, despair not. We'll get back to you on housing sometime before the appointment of the next Town Supervisor. Stay tuned...
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Hempstead Town Board OKs Baldwin urban renewal measure
BY EDEN LAIKIN
eden.laikin@newsday.com

The Hempstead Town Board yesterday unanimously approved the go-ahead for an urban renewal plan in Baldwin, a town code amendment allowing campaign signs without permits, and the hiring of a top employee's son. And it reserved decision on whether to lower the age requirement for a senior housing complex.

The Baldwin vote approved the town's acquisition of a property and subsequent sale to Garden City-based Engel Burman Group as part of an $18-million revitalization plan of the blighted area along Grand Avenue. The plan aims to make the area a destination for shoppers from outside the community, with new businesses in place next year.

The amendment to the town's building ordinance allows campaign signs to be displayed 60 days before and 10 days after an election, without a permit, if the sign is 32 square feet or smaller.

And the hiring involved Edward Ra - son of Town Attorney Joseph Ra - who was named a $65,000-a-year deputy town attorney, assigned to the town's Engineering Department to work on legal aspects of environmental reviews. Ra interned for the town board in 2005.

The vote to reserve decision involved a request to grant the Seasons at East Meadow permission to offer its condos for sale to people as young as 55. The development was initially approved with a minimum age of 62, as required for town Golden Age housing. In November 2006, the town board approved the firm's application to build the 416 two-bedroom unit senior housing complex. Such zoning requires fewer parking spaces per unit than multifamily developments without age restriction. The developers' attorney, Albert D'Agostino, presented experts who said that no more parking would be needed for the expanded age group.

He blamed the slow sales on the economy. Shareholders in the firm that's building the Seasons include former State Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, his son, Christopher, and D'Amato's brother, Armand. D'Agostino had his $106,700 annual pension revoked by the state comptroller last month when the state determined he was not an employee of the school districts and local governments for which he had done independent contracting work. D'Agostino is fighting the action.

Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.

Putting Community First

If the time-honored adage is true, and “all politics is local,” the races in New York’s 9th Senatorial District and 21st Assembly District are, to paraphrase News12, as local as local politics gets.

Indeed, the incumbents, Majority Leader Dean Skelos in the Senate’s 9th, and Tom Alfano in the Assembly’s 21st, face-off on November 4th against two relative unknowns, both of whom hail from the same hometown, West Hempstead.

Roy D. Simon, Jr., a professor of ethics at Hofstra Law School, is vying to unseat the widely popular, and increasingly more powerful, State Senator Dean Skelos. Alan Smilowitz, an attorney in private practice, is challenging the soft-spoken but hard-hitting Tom Alfano, for his seat in the Assembly chamber.

To say that the odds against both Simon and Smilowitz are long, given the power of incumbency and the popularity of two public servants who serve their constituencies with distinction, is an understatement.

Add to the mix the relative obscurity (okay, complete obscurity) of the challengers – who, even among their neighbors, are hardly household names – and the attempt on the part of these Democratic contenders, obviously offered up at the altar of sacrifice on behalf of their Party, to climb the proverbial Everest, falters and fails at the base camp.

And what of the West Hempstead connection? Is there an anti-Skelos sentiment or an oust-Alfano mindset afoot in this typically conservative and traditionally Republican stronghold? Hardly.

Both Skelos and Alfano enjoy almost universal support among those they represent – with West Hempsteaders being no exception.

On the issues, from record aid to education to an affordable prescription drug program, fighting for property tax relief to providing community grants to revitalize localities and grow the economy of our towns and hamlets, Dean Skelos and Tom Alfano have stood in the forefront of the local scene, not only talking the talk on State Street, but walking the walk on Main Street – call it Hempstead Turnpike, or otherwise.

The record of both men, often working as a dynamic team, is replete with accomplishments that shine brighter with each successive legislative session. Skelos’ rise to the ultimate seat of power in the Senate – a heartbeat away from the Governor’s office – was occasioned as much by intellect and the ability to get the job done – both in Albany and here at home – as it was on his political acumen. And Tom Alfano’s easy-going manner and endearing charm, winning over the hearts of his constituency, by no means diminishes his capacity as a tough street fighter who mans the barricades of community.

But it is those local issues that have been and remain the mainstay of the focus of Dean Skelos and Tom Alfano, and the backbone of enduring support as voters reaffirm their confidence in these two forceful leaders.

In West Hempstead, Skelos and Alfano have been outspoken opponents of the Town’s mishandling of the Courtesy Hotel, ardent supporters of the revitalization of Hempstead Avenue, and, year after year, advocates for our children, in word and deed, lessening the tax burden of homeowners by providing our public schools with the money they need to provide a top-notch education.

This is not to say that Messrs. Simon and Smilowitz lack the character or qualifications to serve the good people of SD 9 and AD 21, respectively. We are sure both gentlemen measure up, and are, to borrow the phrase, “likeable enough.” Indeed, their willingness, if not desire to serve the public good is to be applauded.

Unfortunately for Simon and Smilowitz, their obscurity is eclipsed only by their conspicuous absence from the community stage.

Those who, for what seems like eons, have pledged time and talent to West Hempstead’s civic associations, chamber of commerce, PTA groups, and the other organizations that must be considered as the root of community activism, are hard-pressed to say they’ve so much as heard of Roy Simon or Alan Smilowitz, let alone to attest to the activism or advocacy of these gentlemen on the causes near and dear to the West Hempstead community.

Where Skelos and Alfano have taken a stand, Simon and Smilowitz have yet to stand up. And that, at least for those of us who, as a matter of course, put community first – and expect our elected officials to do likewise – is more that a little disconcerting.

That New York is likely to go Democratic in a big way on November 4th, with the head of the ticket raking in the votes and, perhaps, carrying wide-sweeping coattails, the vote down-ticket matters.

“Change” may be the buzzword in this election, but experience counts and results matter. And being present and accountable locally, as advocates and activists, trumps all.

Here on Long Island, the vote down-ticket is crucial, and keeping the likes of Dean Skelos and Tom Alfano as our representatives in the State capital should be paramount in the minds of the electorate.

The Community Alliance endorses Senator Dean G. Skelos in the 9th SD and Assemblyman Thomas W. Alfano in the 21st AD.
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ELECTION DAY IS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4th. VOTE!

Property Tax Rebate Checks To Be Offset By Decrease In STAR Payments To School Districts

There they go again!

Putting money in one pocket (the annual, pre-election STAR Rebate check, your reminder to vote on November 4), while picking the other pocket (by a decrease in the STAR exemption, which Albany lawmakers won't tell you about) at the same time.

Yes, the sleight of hand, played with our tax dollars, impacting where? On YOUR wallet, of course.

Those STAR Rebate checks -- to be sent automatically this year -- will begin to show up in homeowners' mailboxes in October.

Rebates will range from $0, for those with 2006 combined incomes of $250,000 or more, to $799.85, for those qualified for Enhanced STAR.

Click HERE to determine the amount of your rebate check, and the expected mailing date.

The decrease in the STAR Exemption, as enacted by our State Legislature and signed into law by the Governor, will cost the "average" homeowner somewhere in the neighborhood of $320. [Will the "average" homeowner on Long Island please raise his hand?]

Net-Net, Long Island homeowners may well see a wash as they STAR-gaze at that Rebate check. Best case scenario -- chump change in your pocket (use it to help pay for the Wall Street bailout); worst case -- an out-of-pocket loss of, perhaps, of hundreds of dollars, all added on to your property tax bill. [The one they hope you'll never notice.]

Okay, so Albany faces the same fiscal crunch the feds -- and the rest of us -- must contend with. Money -- and credit -- are tight. Deficits are on the rise. Shortfalls must be made up for.

We all understand that.

So, why not cancel, or temporarily postpone the STAR Rebates. At the very least, tell the taxpayer about the reduction in the STAR payments to school districts (a reduction which the homeowner will be held liable for in a corresponding increase in, yes, the dreaded school property tax).

What? You can't do that in an election year?

Oh. Sorry. We forgot, for a moment there, just how easy it has been to spend our money, and how difficult it is to tell the taxpayers the cold, hard truth!
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From Newsday:

Don't cash your STAR rebate, assessor says
BY JOHN HILDEBRAND
mailto:john.hildebrand@newsday.com?subject=Newsday.com

Long Island homeowners might want to bank those STAR rebate checks that are due from the state next month.

That way, they could use the money to make up for upcoming losses in their STAR tax exemptions.

In what some local government officials regard as political sleight-of-hand, Albany is preparing to send out annual tax-rebate checks ranging from $240 to $555, while reducing another form of tax assistance to most school districts. Both forms are part of the state's annual program of STAR school-tax relief.

The other type of STAR payments -- those going directly to school districts -- are due to drop this year in most localities, state authorities say. Nassau County officials say this will drive up homeowners' tax bills there by as much as $320.

Yesterday, County Assessor Harvey Levinson blasted Albany's two-handed approach as "wasteful and self-aggrandizing." Levinson also implied that the state's approach was sneaky -- an accusation denied by aides to Gov. David A. Paterson and state legislative leaders.

"I can understand why state lawmakers opted not to inform homeowners (in their many taxpayer-funded mailings) that they were responsible for increasing this year's school property tax burden," Levinson declared in a statement issued yesterday.

Levinson, a Democrat who is retiring next month, also contends that the state could save localities millions of dollars in paperwork if it folded the money now allocated for rebate checks into the payments going to school districts.

Rebate checks are mailed out under the state's imprint just before November's elections. In contrast, STAR payments to school districts are far more difficult for homeowners to track, because such payments are reflected only indirectly in the tax bills issued by counties and towns.

Nassau's tax bills go out early next month. In Suffolk County, where bills go out in December, some town officials in charge of assessments also expect the drop in STAR payments to negatively affect taxpayers.

However, these authorities expect effects to be slight, and some question Levinson's emphasis on the issue.

"The average loss here would only be about $5 -- you'd never notice it," said one Huntington official who asked not to be named.

In Albany, state government leaders describe their curbs on STAR payments to school districts as an effort to balance an increasingly precarious budget.

Last spring, Paterson, a Democrat, and legislative leaders from both parties agreed that STAR payments to school districts could drop by as much as 10 percent, compared to payments made the year before. That would save the state an estimated $110 million, according to the governor's budget office.

At the time, the agreement on reduced STAR payments was not mentioned in a news release issued by the governor's office. Paterson aides note, however, that the reductions were mentioned in a 130-page executive budget booklet.

Scott Reif, a spokesman for the State Senate's Republican majority, said leaders on that side initially opposed STAR reductions, but reluctantly agreed as part of an overall compromise that included a $1.75-billion boost in state aid for school operations.

"It was a difficult decision that was made in the context of balancing the budget," Reif added.

Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.

Andrew Cuomo Invites LIers To Join -- And Watch -- The Debate

Dear Friends:

The Office of the Attorney General is coming to the Nassau County! I write to invite you to join me and my senior staff at a community forum on Tuesday October 7th at 7:00 pm at the Caroline G. Atkinson School at 58 W. Seaman Ave. in Freeport.

We are hosting this meeting to discuss issues of concern to the residents of Nassau County. The forum will focus on priority issues such as environmental protection, health care, consumer protection, civil rights, workers rights, internet safety, and student loans.

I look forward to discussing these topics, but most importantly I am looking forward to hearing directly from you. In addition, we encourage you to stay around to watch the presidential debate at 9:00pm which we will be showing on site.

We need your help to ensure this forum’s success. We hope you will circulate word of this forum and encourage your friends, family and anyone else you know who may be interested to attend.

Please also visit our website at www.oag.state.ny.us to learn more about the Office of the Attorney General. We very much look forward to meeting you atthis important community forum. Light refreshments will be served.

Please RSVP to our Nassau County Regional Office at 516-248-3316. Ifyou have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our NassauCounty Regional office at (516) 248-3300.

Sincerely,
ANDREW CUOMO
New York State Attorney General

County Exec Seeks 3.9% Hike

Nassau County ranks third in the nation in property tax burden, right behind number one Westchester County and number two Hunterdon County (NJ).

As the financial markets crumble and economic woes beset nearly every one of us on Long Island, Nassau County is trying harder to catch the pack and take the lead.

County Executive, Tom Suozzi, recently called for a 3.9% increase in the property tax – the first increase in 5 years. The price tag per Nassau County household? Roughly, $65.

At first blush, the thought of even a small increase, coming from the lips of the guy who set out to cut property taxes – the thorn in the side of county homeowners – would seem unconscionable.

The Chair of the NYS Commission on Property Tax Relief proposing a property tax increase? What is he thinking? What were we?

Of course, Mr. Suozzi is within the 4% cap (and we have not abandoned our position, mind you, that a tax cap is not a tax cut, by any means) his Commission proposed for school property taxes, so fair is fair, we suppose. Still, can Nassau County homeowners afford any increase in their already hefty tax burden?

The real question is, with declining revenues from other sources – particularly the dwindling sales tax receipts – can Nassau County afford not to raise property taxes.

Fact is, core services must be maintained, as must at least the aura of suburbia, as we have come to know it, lest Nassau County slip into the great abyss of economic depression ala NYC in the depths of the fiscal crisis of the 70s, where neglect of everything from infrastructure to community policing was the order of the day.

True, the argument can be made – and we have made it here, many times – that there is evidence of neglect in the way Nassau County does business in its regular course, evidence the decline in park upkeep and road maintenance, but make no mistake, without maintaining the core services by means of a modest tax increase in these tenuous economic times, a meltdown of the very attributes that make Nassau County so attractive to its inhabitants, from the provision of essential services to maintaining the bond rating that keeps Nassau afloat in the marketplace, are at risk, raising the potential for a financial quandary that would make the darkest days of the Gulotta administration look like fireworks over the East River on the Forth of July.

Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of our neighbor to the west, the City of New York, and a fiscal conservative under whose stewardship the city has flourished, has recently bantered about the prospect of a 7% property tax increase for city homeowners, warning that such increases may be necessary to close enormous deficits.

“I said we will look at all the different possibilities, but I think the solution is a combination of expense reduction, which nobody is going to be happy about, and revenue enhancements, which nobody is going to be happy about,” Bloomberg told The New York Times. “This is not going to be a feel-good time.”

Similarly, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, in proposing a number of significant budget cuts to complement, if not offset, the hike in property taxes, had this to say:

"Despite the worst national economic times in over a decade we kept the tax increase below 4%. We did this while maintaining our commitment to fiscal integrity by keeping our headcount low, by negotiating tough, but fair contracts with our public employee unions, by reducing our debt service and implementing smart government initiatives as we have each year of my administration."

Without doubt, when the proposed 2009 budget comes before the politically divided and essentially inept Nassau County Legislature, there will be the usual wrangling, finger-pointing, and posturing for which this gang has become infamous.

So, too, will this property tax increase become campaign fodder when the County Exec seat is up for grabs next year, despite the obvious shortfalls and economic realities beyond the control of even the most fiscally prudent CEO.

No, there is no room, and this is no time, for the partisan bickering that has, in the past, mired our county in a dysfunctional stupor. There is no Democratic or Republican way to either pick up garbage (except in the town’s Special Districts, where all yokels are political), or to set the county’s fiscal house in order, and no painless way to keep the county solvent while continuing to give moment to the great suburban dream.

There will be cuts, consolidations, give-backs, and, yes, more property taxes to pay. Why, they may even have to unplug those high-def flat screen TVs installed in the offices of our County Legislators at the newly restored courthouse. Ouch.

As Mike Bloomberg opined, “This is not going to be a feel-good time.”

No, it is not.

Still, with stringent belt-tightening, fiscally responsible governing, and, yes, a property tax hike that amounts to, more or less, a tank of gas per household, hard times will, in due course, lead to better times for all of us.
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Have an opinion of the proposed 2009 Nassau County Budget? Suggestions for keeping our fiscal house in order? Recipes for apple crumb pie or almond-encrusted monk fish?

Click on the COMMENTS link below and share your thoughts with friends, neighbors, and the elected officials who, at least in theory, represent them.

Have even more to say on the issues that impact on community? [You know you do!] Write to The Community Alliance at thecommunityalliance@yahoo.com to post a Guest Blog.

Don’t do it better. Do it bigger.

That seems to be the credo of The Association of Towns of the State of New York – the folks who obviously revel in the mockery of “local control” as somehow giving power to the people.

Okay, so those “people” are the ones who are in power at your local town hall – the folks who dole out the patronage jobs along with the SUVs, 52-inch HDTVs, lifetime health and medical benefits (even for the dearly departed) to the commissioners at the Sanitary Districts and their families – but hey, its great work, if you can get it.

But we digress.

Seems that The Association of Towns of the State of New York commissioned a study – prepared by Wendell Cox (any relation to Wally?) – which concludes that local control creates efficiency, saves the taxpayer big bucks, and keeps control of everything from water delivery to garbage collection where it belongs – local (as, in the hands of those who, for the last hundred years, or so, have maintained that stranglehold on your wallet by charging you more for trash collection than you pay for police protection).

Yes, as local as local taxation gets!

In Government Efficiency, The Case for Local Control, Wendell Cox opines, among other points of dubious contention, that “claims that local government consolidation would improve New York’s competitiveness are not supported by the experience.”

Of course not. We’ve rarely, if ever, experienced government consolidation in New York State, let alone in America’s largest township, where the tentacles of government are ever-expanding, reaching those treasured greenbacks wherever you may try to hide them.

The problem with The Association of Towns making the argument against consolidation is that it is as specious as it is self-serving. Kind of like the tobacco industry, having commissioned an “independent study” (conducted by the CEO of R.J. Reynolds), concluding not only that cigarette smoking is good for you, but, more than this, that nicotine prevents cancer, and may even be the long-sought after cure.

The Cox Report (and this is not meant as a sexist retort, mind you) concludes with a finding that may well prove true, assuming we ever get to that point – “New York’s system of smaller local governments are principal competitive assets.”

That’s smaller local government, right? Smaller, as in less of it? Smaller, as in less intrusive, fewer special districts, lower property taxes?

Hmmm. If you believe that, here in New York, we have smaller local government, or, even in some oblique sense, are headed in the direction of efficient local government, well then, hold on to your wallets, my friends, ‘cause we’ve got a bridge to nowhere to sell you.

Nassau Exec Envisions "Cool Towns"

On the heels of the late spring heat wave, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi is thinking cool. As in "cool downtowns."

Garden City, Rockville Centre, and Long Beach are among the few that, according to Suozzi, have already achieved "cool downtown" status.

Others, not enumerated, have yet to make it to the "cool" list. And some, Suozzi admits, may never be "cool."

We note that most -- if not all -- of the designated "cool downtowns" are within incorporated villages (surprise, surprise), with "potentially cool" downtowns including a few unincorporated areas, such as Farmingdale and Baldwin, said to be on their way toward coolness.

No Elmont on any of Mr. Suozzi's lists, although it would have been way cool if we had a Triple Crown winner at Belmont. [Darn you, Big Brown!]

As for hamlets the likes of West Hempstead, Uniondale, and Wantagh, well, you're working your way toward becoming "automobile-centered communities" (you mean they're not already?), which may be "cool" to car aficionados, but not so much to us advocates of viable, walkable, sustainable downtowns, sans all of those "cool" cars.

So, what's cool in your code? How does your community's "downtown" stack up?

Write to The Community Alliance at thecommunityalliance@yahoo.com and dare to be cool!
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From Newsday:

Suozzi vows to help Nassau downtowns become 'cool'
BY SID CASSESE
sid.cassese@newsday.com

Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi knows cool when he sees it and wants to see more of it in the county's aging downtowns.

Suozzi told about 400 local municipal and business officials at a conference in Rockville Centre yesterday that he plans to make good on a promise he made in his State of the County speech in March to usher in the economic benefits of "cool downtowns."

Downtowns can vary in vibrancy and appeal to residents and visitors, and some of them won't meet his standard of "cool downtowns," Suozzi said, adding that they will be near train stations, with residents living and or working in multistory buildings within walking distance to restaurants and small shops.

"Not all of our downtowns will be cool downtowns. Those that won't be, we will try to help enhance and upgrade," Suozzi told officials from Nassau's towns, villages and cities.

Suozzi is trying to coordinate the many plans for downtown revitalization, but the municipalities and their zoning boards will decide their reality.

Suozzi added three new categories for revitalized downtowns: quaint or historic; potentially cool; and auto-oriented commercial centers.

In the quaint or historic category, Suozzi included Bayville, Roslyn, New Hyde Park and Lawrence. In the potentially cool class, Suozzi put Port Washington, Farmingdale, Syosset and Baldwin. Auto-oriented communities are Plainview, West Hempstead, Uniondale and Wantagh, he said.

Some have already made it to the pinnacle of cool, Suozzi said, naming Rockville Centre, Garden City, Great Neck Plaza and Long Beach.

Sandra Johnson, chairwoman of the Bellmore Chamber of Commerce, told Suozzi her downtown could use his help because young men from a new community youth center on Bellmore Avenue are harassing passersby and restaurant patrons. Suozzi said he would look into it. Farmingdale Mayor George Starkie told Suozzi he and his board want to do the "cool downtown" plan and have been working on it for two years, but can't come up with the money for a serious study.

Suozzi said he would look to see if the county can help.

Staff writer Joseph Mallia contributed to this story.

Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.

And The Long Island Delegation Should Take The Lead

Special District Commissioners serving without compensation or benefits. [Yes, true community volunteers.]

The transfer of garbage collection and recycling services from the Special Districts to the Towns in which they operate. [One Town. One rate. One standard of service.]

Special District Elections all on the SAME day. [What? No more Fridays, Tuesdays, and alternate Wednesday nights in August or December?]

All wonderful -- and potentially cost-saving ideas -- proposed not only to give true meaning to the term, "local control," but to curb (and perhaps bring an end to) the burgeoning abuses that accompany the unbridled proliferation of an unnecessary layer of medieval government.

So, where is Long Island's Assembly and Senate delegation, now that there are real solutions crying out for practical legislation (all supported by Governor Patterson) on the table?

Seems awfully quiet out there, as the legislative session winds down.

Long Islanders should be making some noise, and asking, "Why the silence on local government efficiency?"
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Click HERE to contact your STATE LEGISLATORS
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From Newsday's Editorial Page

LI delegation should step up
Reform bills are withering in Albany, and there's no excuse for that

So many good ideas to reform government spending on Long Island have been raised this season. Yet they are in danger of suffocating in the State Legislature. Most bills can't find sponsors among the Island's many lawmakers.

This situation is pathetic. With gas prices rising, foreclosures growing and all of us watching our pennies, the State Legislature should do its part and pass bills to limit special taxing districts.

First, lawmakers should eliminate pay and benefits for district commissioners. Long Island is the only place in New York where these people are paid; elsewhere, volunteers serve out of civic duty. This measure alone would cut off the blood supply that feeds the greed. Some commissioners receive full pensions, fully paid medical benefits, cars and even homes.

This reform was suggested by the state Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness, and originally incorporated in former Gov. Eliot Spitzer's budget. Senate Republicans opposed it, and it would have died there, had Gov. David Paterson not adopted it.

He added another reform, shifting responsibility for sanitation cleanup to towns. But as of now, not one elected official from Long Island will sponsor this bill in the legislature.

What did we put them in office for, anyway?

Another bill, pushed by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, would require special districts to post their financial information and meeting dates on their town's Web site. Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) and Assemb. Sam Hoyt (D-Buffalo) are sponsors.

A final effort is Suozzi's plan to reduce the confusion of 22 special district elections, to coincide with either the May school vote or the general election in November. The current arrangement not only guarantees low turnout but promotes voter intimidation. One election was held in the commissioner's kitchen. Is this any way to run a democracy?

The Suozzi plan also needs sponsors. And, by the way, we're still waiting for action on school pension double-dipping, as well as a halt to part-time consultants qualifying for school pensions.

Something is seriously wrong with our representation in Albany if, now that the problem's been diagnosed, Island residents cannot receive the medicine we need to make it better.

Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.

DiNapoli To Discuss Fiscal Issues Impacting Upon All New Yorkers

"The government is us; we are the government, you and I."
--Teddy Roosevelt

From our friends at the Nassau County Civic Association:

General Meeting Notice

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 7:00 pm

Meeting Location: Rockville Centre Library, 221 North Village Avenue, Rockville Centre, NY

Our Guest speaker, NYS Comptroller, Tom DiNapoli

Thomas P. DiNapoli was sworn in as the 54th Comptroller of the state of New York on February 7, 2007. As Chief Fiscal Officer for the State, he is responsible for managing and protecting the State pension fund, auditing the spending practices of all State agencies and local governments, reviewing the New York State and City budgets, reviewing and approving all State contracts, and administering the State Oil Spill Fund.

Since taking office, Mr. DiNapoli has instituted several reforms at the Comptroller’s office to ensure open and honest government. He has aggressively moved to end the practice of reporting private attorneys as school district employees in order to receive pension and medical benefits. He has been critical of excessive state spending and has called for capping the level of state debt.

Operating in a bi-partisan manner, Tom DiNapoli has advocated for the taxpayer as an independent voice in Albany. He will discuss the current fiscal issues facing New York and his reform agenda.

And That Provides School Property Tax Relief, How?

A cap on school property taxes of 4% annually.

No local vote on the school budget unless the proposed budget increase is greater than 4%.

The "banking" of the difference between the actual budget and the 4% cap, for possible add-on in future years (with the proviso that there be a cap on the cap).

Is this the NYS Commission on Property Tax Relief's idea of giving the taxpayer/homeowner a break?

Where's the "relief" here?

Quite frankly, we don't see anything to be gained by the proposed cap (most school districts on Long Island came in well under a 4% increase this year, anyway), and taking matters out of the hands of the voters certainly doesn't speak much for the much-touted local control.

Wasn't the whole idea of establishing this Commission in the first place to explore ways, and find the means to, LOWER school property taxes?

Has not the Commission simply sat on the ball, time having run out on the clock? Heck, a Hail Mary pass would have at least given us some hope.

To be fair, we've only given the Commission's rather lengthy Report a cursory review, having had little time to digest same in its entirety.

Many of the Commission's premises are valid, and the suggested remedies, reasonable.

This includes the recommendations to get a handle on those pesky mandates, both funded and unfunded, and to evaluate pensions, consider salary caps for superintendents, and the adoption of the recommendations of the NYS Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness, all of which impact greatly upon school district costs.

That said, in gleaning the "highlights," we are left to wonder whether the State Legislature wouldn't be exercising prudent judgment in putting a lid on that proposed cap, this in favor of a more strident effort to come up with a way to fund public education other than the local property tax, and to provide something in the way of actual tax relief.

In short, the "reform" here leaves us wanting for more, and the "relief" proferred is but more of the same as suggested in years gone by, only by a different name.
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Summary of the Commission's Preliminary Report:

The Property Tax Cap: The Commission proposes capping annual growth in the
property tax levy at 4 percent or 120 percent of the Consumer Price Index (CPI),
whichever is less. New construction, which results in an increase to the tax levy, may be
added to increase the capped amount. Any levy not used may be “banked,” to be used in
future years at a rate not exceeding 1½ percent of the prior year’s levy. School districts
that do not exceed the cap would no longer be required to submit their budgets for an
annual vote. If a school district wishes to exceed the cap, a positive vote by at least 55
percent of the voters would be required to override the cap. If a school district has
received a 5 percent or greater increase in state aid, 60 percent of the voters would be
required to override the cap. This 5 percent number is not intended to suggest that 5
percent growth in state aid is sufficient for high need districts.

The STAR Circuit Breaker: The Commission recommends that, after a property tax
levy cap is adopted, the State reexamine the STAR program, which provides payments to
school districts with no relation to individual taxpayers’ ability to pay and has failed to
effectively reduce property tax growth. A new STAR circuit breaker, targeted to relieve
the tax burden on individual taxpayers based upon their income and ability to pay, would
be a much more equitable way of reducing an individual’s property tax burden. A levy
cap is necessary to ensure that property tax growth is restrained for all taxpayers,
including businesses. A circuit breaker implemented after a cap has been enacted ensures
that, in addition to limiting property tax growth, individual relief is targeted to people
most in need. The STAR circuit breaker is the only Commission proposal which has a
cost to the State. Recognizing the financial pressure faced by the State, the Commission
recommends redirecting at least $2 billion from the ineffective STAR program to a more
effective circuit breaker.

Changing State Law and Mandate Relief: The Commission recommends that the
State support school districts’ efforts to rein in the costs of salaries, pensions and health
care, as well as general operating and capital expenses by changing state law. There are
three categories of proposed solutions:

I. New Recommendations to address the root causes of high property taxes:
• No new legislative mandates without a complete accounting of the fiscal
impact on local governments, which must include full documentation, local
government input and proposed revenue sources to fund the new mandates.
• No new regulatory mandates from the State Education Department without
a complete accounting of the fiscal impacts on local governments, which must
include full documentation, local government input, and proposed revenue
sources to fund the new mandates.
• Mandate accountability through an annual report from the Office of the
State Comptroller, which should include the cumulative cost to localities of
complying with all new regulatory and legislative mandates.
• Amend the Triborough provision of the Taylor Law to exclude teacher
step and lane increments from continuation until new contracts are
negotiated.
• Centralize and streamline school district reporting.
• Create a Commission task force on other State mandates to research other
reforms between now and the Commission’s final report (December 1, 2008).

II. Adopt twelve recommendations from the Commission on Local
Government Efficiency and Competitiveness (LGEC), including:
• Regional collective bargaining
• Health insurance contributions
• Health benefit trusts
• Non-instructional service consolidation through BOCES
• School district consolidation
• Wicks Law reform
• Procurement reform
• Countywide property tax assessment

III. Recommendations supplemental to the LGEC report:
• Require school districts to report collective bargaining outcomes to the
Governor’s Office of Employee Relations and in their budgets.
• Convene a study to evaluate creating a new Tier 5 pension system.
• Rescind the BOCES district superintendent salary cap.
• Create a BOCES statewide energy program.
• Establish uniform statewide assessing standards.
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Click HERE to read the full Report of the Commission
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From Newsday:

Panel recommends capping school taxes at 4%
BY JAMES T. MADORE
james.madore@newsday.com

A state commission Monday recommended capping at 4 percent annual increases in school property taxes, and requiring the approval of more than half of voters to exceed this spending limit.

In a 113-page report, the Commission on Property Tax Relief urged the State Legislature and Gov. David A. Paterson to adopt the property-tax cap as a means of dampening homeowners' anger at their escalating property tax bills.

The commission said in return for increasing levies by 4 percent or less school districts would no longer be required to submit their budgets for voter approval. Such votes would only occur in districts that want to exc