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Patrick Boyle, executive director of the Gateway Outreach Program in Elmont, said that his facility had to shut its doors for the summer on July 6 after funding was cut. According to Boyle, Democrats in the Legislature won’t authorize bonding because it is the last chip they have to negotiate redistricting.
“Kids are not receiving programs because elected officials are worried about who’s going to be voting for them and who won’t,” Boyle said. He added that Gateway would reopen once a contract from New York state kicks in when schools start in September, although it would operate on a limited basis. Gateway is on the verge of losing $170,000 to the cuts, Boyle said.
In 2009, under then County Executive Thomas Suozzi, the State Legislature passed a law allowing Nassau to install 50 red-light cameras. Ticket proceeds, Levy said, are supposed to fund Nassau’s youth-service agencies, according to an agreement hammered out by a Democratically controlled County Legislature in 2009. But this May, the now Republican-led Legislature passed a measure that redirects money from the red-light camera fund into the county’s general fund.
The county, Levy said, has $6 million remaining from red-light camera proceeds in 2011 and another $6 million from 2012.
Andrew Hackmack and Scott Brinton contributed to this story.
Crisis Center has funding restored
The Bellmore-based Long Island Crisis Center –– Nassau County’s only 24-hour, seven-day-a-week suicide-prevention hotline –– received word on June 28 that it would have its contract with Nassau County restored, according to Linda Leonard, the agency’s executive director. That contract is worth $300,000.
Leonard called the restoration “bittersweet.” On one hand, she said, she was happy to learn that her agency would survive the county cuts. On the other, she could not celebrate, knowing that 56 other agencies have lost funding. The only other agency to have its financing restored thus far is Nassau Haven, a shelter for runaway youths.
“It’s certainly a validation of the critical, life-saving work that we do,” Leonard said.
“Kids are not receiving programs because elected officials are worried about who’s going to be voting for them and who won’t,” Boyle said. He added that Gateway would reopen once a contract from New York state kicks in when schools start in September, although it would operate on a limited basis. Gateway is on the verge of losing $170,000 to the cuts, Boyle said.
In 2009, under then County Executive Thomas Suozzi, the State Legislature passed a law allowing Nassau to install 50 red-light cameras. Ticket proceeds, Levy said, are supposed to fund Nassau’s youth-service agencies, according to an agreement hammered out by a Democratically controlled County Legislature in 2009. But this May, the now Republican-led Legislature passed a measure that redirects money from the red-light camera fund into the county’s general fund.
The county, Levy said, has $6 million remaining from red-light camera proceeds in 2011 and another $6 million from 2012.
Andrew Hackmack and Scott Brinton contributed to this story.
Crisis Center has funding restored
The Bellmore-based Long Island Crisis Center –– Nassau County’s only 24-hour, seven-day-a-week suicide-prevention hotline –– received word on June 28 that it would have its contract with Nassau County restored, according to Linda Leonard, the agency’s executive director. That contract is worth $300,000.
Leonard called the restoration “bittersweet.” On one hand, she said, she was happy to learn that her agency would survive the county cuts. On the other, she could not celebrate, knowing that 56 other agencies have lost funding. The only other agency to have its financing restored thus far is Nassau Haven, a shelter for runaway youths.
“It’s certainly a validation of the critical, life-saving work that we do,” Leonard said.
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