Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino, the Republican incumbent seeking re-election, is making environmental protection, redevelopment and affordability central to his campaign, arguing that his experience in government has prepared him to manage the town’s competing needs.
Saladino, who became supervisor in 2017, emphasized his background, which includes 37 years of governmental administrative experience and more than 13 years in the New York State Assembly. He also pointed to his education and earlier career in journalism as tools for examining complicated issues and explaining them to residents.
“I'm very hands-on and I'm very collaborative,” he said. “I'm constantly out meeting with the residents, finding out what their needs are, finding out what problems are in the community and finding the solutions.”
Environmental protection is one of his chief priorities. Saladino said the town is building a second, larger shellfish hatchery at TOBAY Beach in addition to the one in Oyster Bay hamlet. His goal, he claimed, is to reintroduce 60 million clams and oysters annually into North Shore and South Shore waters.
He also pointed to the cleanup of the Grumman Navy plume, which he described as a major threat to Long Island’s sole-source aquifer. The town is pursuing two lawsuits seeking cleanup costs and funding for a new park, he said.
“We're up against one of the biggest and richest corporations in America, meaning Northrop Grumman. I'm not afraid to take them on,” Saladino said.
On development, Saladino said the town should focus on redeveloping existing sites while preserving suburban quality of life. He cited developments in downtown Hicksville, where plans include about 500 housing units, stores, shops and restaurants, as a model for other communities.
Saladino criticized state proposals he said would limit local zoning authority and reduce residents’ opportunities to weigh in on development decisions.
“That means your rights as the residents go out the window,” he said. “You don't get to go to hearings. You don't get to give input. That's the wrong way of doing it.”
Affordability, Saladino said, also requires addressing state mandates that he argued shifts costs to local governments and taxpayers. He said the town had moved from a $44 million deficit when he took office to a $100 million surplus without raising taxes. He also cited municipal consolidations and upgraded LED streetlights as ways to reduce expenses. He said the town has gone eight years without a tax increase and has repaved more than half its roads.
On the proposed Propel NY Energy transmission project, Saladino said the town has worked with environmental, engineering and legal experts and sought changes including deeper cable burial, restrictions on work hours and the required use of local union labor. He added that he believes the project could raise electric rates without providing enough local benefit.
Saladino said the town has no plans to install automated license plate readers townwide but would work with individual communities that request them. He cited a Woodbury civic association that sought the technology after concerns about home and car burglaries.
Saladino continuously emphasized the state the town was in when he took over in 2017 and his administration’s work to get it to where it is today.
“We’ve brought this town around to be one of the best in the country,” Saladino concluded. “We’ve come a long, long way, and we’re very, very proud of it.”
