Endorsement

Tony Santino for Town of Hempstead supervisor

Posted

The Herald endorses Tony Santino, a Republican from East Rockaway, for 
Town of Hempstead supervisor.

Santino would bring more than three decades of government experience to 
the job. He has served for 22 years on the town board and six on the Village of East Rockaway board. As he noted in an interview with our editorial board, he understands how Town Hall “ticks.” Thus, we expect, he would be able to transition seamlessly into the post, which is an enormous responsibility: Hempstead is America’s largest township, with nearly 760,000 residents.

Santino gave a smart and thorough answer when asked how he would continue the town’s long track record of environmental protection. First and foremost, he said, he would continue fighting for an ocean outflow pipe for the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant in East Rockaway, which would send effluent from the plant 3.5 miles into the Atlantic Ocean, instead of into Reynolds Channel, just north of Long Beach.

Discharge from the plant, a Nassau County facility, is the greatest threat to the South Shore’s fragile wetland ecosystem, which the town is in charge of preserving. Santino, an East Rockaway resident, is all too familiar with the Bay Park plant’s troubles. We’re confident he would continue to address this critical issue.

And, as a fiscal conservative, we believe he would focus on keeping town taxes as low as possible. No doubt, he is tax-averse. Given the oversized property tax bills many homeowners face, that’s a very good thing.

The trick in the coming years will be to maintain town services –– parks, senior centers, pools –– while finding efficiencies in order to maintain a level tax levy. At the same time, the town has come under increasing financial pressure as it continues to recover from Hurricane Sandy, which caused nearly $200 million in damage to town infrastructure. Much of the repair work has been covered by federal and state funding. Still, it’s a high-wire act to manage such a recovery.

The town has done an admirable job of restoring what was lost –– and even improving infrastructure. Santino has been an integral part of that process. And we believe he would continue to work to upgrade the South Shore’s resiliency to guard against future storms.

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