Mill Brook meets its legislator

Members of the Mill Brook community met their new Nassau County legislator last Tuesday night. Howard Kopel, a Republican from Lawrence, took office in January.

Kopel spoke at the Mill Brook Civic Association’s biannual general membership meeting on March 9, talking about taxes, the county’s assessment system and services. He noted that the county only gets 17 cents of every dollar homeowners pay in property taxes. A majority of money goes to the schools, which is why he said it is important to vote in the annual school board and budget election. “If you don’t vote in the school board election,” he said, “you can’t complain when your taxes are too high.”

The assessment system in Nassau County, Kopel said, is “arcane” and in dire need of repair. In polling the room, most residents felt their homes were overassessed and Kopel said that demonstrates how broken the system is. Kopel noted that even if a person’s assessment goes down, their taxes might still go up.

As a legislator, Kopel said he has learned how bad the financial situation is in Nassau County. Recently, he noted, the county lost an employment lawsuit and had to borrow $150,000 to pay the judgment — a decision Kopel said he reluctantly had to vote for. “I’m embarrassed by that,” he said. “I expect I’ll have to make a few more votes I don’t like because there’s no money to pay for things.”

Borrowing money should be for long-term investments only, Kopel explained, such as the construction or renovation of a building or park upgrades — something that will last throughout the course of a 15- or 20-year payback of a loan. Money should not be borrowed, he said, for paying salaries or one-time judgments. More and more of the county’s budget goes to paying interest on borrowing because of these past practices, Kopel said.