By John C. O'Connell
Two incumbents face off for Hempstead town board
Two incumbents now vie to represent a diverse district on the Town of Hempstead board. Republican Councilman Joseph J. Kearney and Democrat Councilman N. Scott Banks both currently serve "at-large" on the town board, and both seek voters' approval to remain on the council representing District 2.
A judge's ruling in a legal action last year divided the town into six discreet districts, and mandated the town-wide system of representation changed to election by district. The 2nd District includes North Valley Stream, Elmont, South Floral Park, Floral Park, Bellrose, Stewart Manor, Garden City, New Hyde Park, Garden City South, West Hempstead, and part of Franklin Square.
Scott Banks was one of the Democratic Party candidates elected last year, virtually breaking a century of Republican rule. Mr. Banks is an attorney, practicing in the county since 1983. He lives in West Hempstead. He believes one of his major accomplishments so far on the board has been to "open up the processes" of government by having night time meetings, enabling working people to go to the meetings.
"Town government should be participatory government, and that's what we have now in the Town of Hempstead."
Mr. Banks said he is proud of the fact that he cast the first, non-unanimous vote in history at town hall: on the Roosevelt Raceway development issue. "I think we need to end government which is purely rubber-stamp government, and get new voices and new ideas in there; and that's what I've tried to do."
Joseph Kearney was appointed to the town board in 1989, and ran in his first election that year. He has served on the board since. During his 11 years on the board, he said he has helped bring the town "to the incredibly sound, firm position that it's in today. I'm proud of that record."
Long before the county's financial problems came to light, Mr. Kearney said, the town was mindful of the need to have a solid financial footing. He said that the bond rating agencies' reports are "'very glowing' in how we've managed the town, fiscally and responsibly." Mr. Kearney said the town cut its workforce over 10 years for a savings of over $250 million, has done much of its work in-house, and has developed and implemented a "very creative and innovative salvage program."
Mr. Kearney is also an attorney, a Garden City resident. He is most proud of the healthy financial situation the town finds itself, and attributes that financial strength to his years of work on the board along with the other Republican members.
The surplus that the Democrats want to spend away, Mr. Kearney charges, is what has helped maintain tax stability throughout the last nine years. It is on the strength of that hefty surplus of about $50 million that bond rating agencies, he said, base their ratings and accounts for the low cost of borrowing.
"Philosophically, the Democrats are different from us, significantly vis a vis what to do with [the surplus] and how to spend and how to manage," Mr. Kearney claims. One of the first things the Democrats wanted to do when some won in the last town election, Mr. Kearney charges, is to "take up where the county left off." That would be a wrong move, Mr. Kearney said. "That's how the county got in trouble when Governor Cuomo stopped and Pataki cut. The county didn't stop; the county just kept going and going, making up where the state had let them down. And that was the road to financial ruin."
Regarding the town's finances, Mr. Banks said he has not voted for any tax increases while on the town council, and thinks the town should maintain a strong bond rating. He thinks, though, that the $50 million surplus that the town has is "incredibly too high."
To get a surplus like that, Mr. Banks charges, "it must mean that the residents of the town of Hempstead have been overtaxed for so many years." He doubts that any government ever gives money back, so he said he would like the money returned in another way: "we don't have to bond as much to fix roads if we have the money in the bank. We could fix our parks and still have a substantial surplus. I think we have to maintain a high surplus, but $50 million is astronomical. In fact the state controller's office says a surplus should be no more than 10 percent of your overall budget. We're way above that."
The way the town has gotten to its healthy financial position, Mr. Kearney counters, is through "sound, solid fiscal management." Long ago, he said, the board realized that the money coming into the town from taxpayers "was not to be lightly spent. It was to be spent in appropriate ways, in terms of a workforce, managing the workforce, and in an attempt to get more with less."
Beautification and crime are issues for Mr. Banks. "Hempstead Turnpike is not being cleaned up," he said. Residents "want to see better roads, better parks." Certain parks, he said, are "a disaster," with drug dealing as well as unsightliness and disrepair. Mr. Banks wrote to police and the District Attorney's office and gotten action, he said.
In the area of parks, Mr. Kearney points to a significant success story. Mr. Kearney is proud of the Senator Norman Levy Park. "That was a dump, that was a landfill. we will dedicate that park on November 22. We did that ourselves at a savings of $43 million."
Mr. Kearney said his performance and that of the town board as a whole has been excellent, providing the best services without seeking tax increases and watching the town budget carefully, keeping a healthy surplus as a 'rainy day fund' and as a means of keeping borrowing costs at a minimum. He believes such stewardship deserves reelection.
Mr. Banks thinks new, fresh and more open government is required to shake the town board from its complaisant, one-party rule, and to spend more of the surplus directly in services to make life for Hempstead town residents better.
