In 7th L.D., the choice is Kopel

Incumbent County Legislator Howard Kopel is focused on seeking solutions to Nassau County’s broken tax assessment system and repairing and upgrading the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant in East Rockaway.

We are impressed with the deep understanding of county finances he has developed during his four years in the Legislature. Kopel, who appears to have a keen grasp of the issues surrounding the assessment system, is sponsoring legislation that would require commercial property owners to provide more complete and accurate income and expense information, which he says would help the county establish more precise assessments. The proposed law also includes more stringent penalties for noncompliance.

The two-term Republican legislator pointed to Bay Park as the primary reason he was first elected in 2009. We expect him to keep a strict accounting of work at the plant, which is to receive $300 million in repairs and upgrades.

Lisa Daniels, an East Rockaway resident and attorney, is Kopel’s Democratic challenger. She is a strong candidate who made it clear that she knows the issues affecting her potential constituency. We like the fact that she followed the money trail that leads to the county’s sewer plants, noting that the Legislature’s Democratic majority approved a five-year, $700 million plan for upgrades, that $270 million was spent in 2008-09, and that the Republican administration halted the repairs in 2010. An idea Daniels offered about budgeting for assessment refunds instead of bonding them — which incurs debt — is a good one, and something we would want the county to do.

Daniels also presents a not-so-pretty picture of a declining Nassau County — a high cost of living, polluted waterways, vacant storefronts — that she wants to see changed. Her suggestion that a countywide database be compiled to track disaster-impacted or displaced residents sounds well intentioned, but is not needed unless genuine assistance, in the form of financial help or needed provisions for victims, is part of the plan.

It appears that both candidates would serve the 7th District well. But given Kopel’s nearly four years of experience, his knowledge of vital issues and his attention to constituents’ problems, we believe he deserves another term.