Kopel again challenges Toback in 7th

Two years ago, Lawrence resident Howard Kopel challenged Legislator Jeff Toback (D-Oceanside) in Nassau County’s 7th Legislative District race. Kopel came up nearly 700 votes short in his bid to unseat the 10-year incumbent. The two will face off again on Nov. 3.

Toback and his Republican challenger agree that taxes and spending are the two main issues in this election, with Nassau County residents paying among the highest taxes in the country. “No one likes to pay any taxes — I know that,” Toback said. “However, people are elected to make tough decisions, and I have proven that I can do that. It’s easy to sit on the sidelines and take pot shots at every decision an elected official makes.”

After property taxes were raised during Toback’s first three years in office (2000-02) in a successful attempt to save the county from financial ruin, the county portion of property taxes has gone up only once in the last six years. The county is expecting to pass a no-tax-increase budget for 2010, according to Toback.

Kopel said that if elected, he would like to eliminate the budget deficit and lower taxes as quickly as possible to help make the county a place where people can afford to live and do business again. He added that he thinks there are always things that can be done to reduce county costs.

“As a businessman who has managed through good times and bad, I know this,” Kopel said. “Spending is out of control and must be reined in, starting with the extreme levels of patronage, continuing with spending caused by the assessment system, and proceeding to an in-depth review of the budget to eliminate waste and unnecessary costs. In every budget, you’re going to have an enormous amount of fat, and you need to have a fresh look and institute what I call zero-based budgeting instead of baseline budgeting. I’d like to take every line of our budget and justify its life from scratch.”