By Tiffany Razzano
At the June 8 open forum for candidates Emilio Grillo and Suzanne Murphy Sullivan, which was held, coincidentally, at the Hispanic Brotherhood's headquarters on Clinton Avenue, a man posed a question to the candidates regarding their opinion of a rumored cut.
Sullivan, the first to respond, appeared unfazed by the question, as though she knew about the proposed cut, which had been discussed only a few days earlier at an executive session of the board. She also seemed prepared for the question, as though she had been briefed beforehand. Without missing a beat, she pledged her allegiance to the Brotherhood and said that if elected, she would vote no on any proposed budget cuts for the organization.
Grillo, who listened intently and seemed to have no knowledge of the proposal, likewise affirmed his loyalty to the organization.
The audience, however, still had questions about the proposal, which led all four current board members - Mayor Eugene Murray, Deputy Mayor Wayne Lipton and Trustees Jeanne Farnan Mulry and Andrew Karamouzis - to leave their seats in case they needed to deal with the chaos. Murray was the only one to acknowledge the issue - and did so several times - but his only response was that the cut, which was not definite, was not an issue up for public discussion and should not have left the confines of the board's meeting room.
Throughout the pandemonium, Margarita Grasing, executive director of the Hispanic Brotherhood and the host of the forum, remained stoic at her podium next to the candidates. Later, she revealed to the Herald that Village Administrator Ron Wasson had informed her of the proposed cut just the day before. The board hoped to set up a date for a meeting with her to discuss it.
Grasing, who is deeply concerned about the proposed cut, said that it would not affect the organization's entire budget, only the portion that would be used for its work with Section 8 housing in the village. Not only does the Hispanic Brotherhood communicate and translate for Spanish-speaking tenants when they deal with the village, it also provides assistance in resolving housing problems for those facing landlord-tenant crises and investigates allegations of housing discrimination. Grasing estimated that the organization receives 10 to 15 calls a day regarding Section 8 housing issues.
The Brotherhood, which has been dealing with Section 8 housing in the village for 22 years, receives $20,000 in grant money from the village each year for its Section 8 work. The proposed cut would slash that amount in half, to $10,000.
Grasing pledged that if its Section 8 budget is cut, the organization will no longer work with the village on Section 8 housing. "The village will have to figure out how to communicate with the people," she said. "We won't do it. They can get a bilingual person from the street, for that matter."
Mulry said she feels that cutting the Brotherhood's budget would be a mistake, because the village is in dire need of the services it provides. "They provide a valuable service to the community, a service that no one at Village Hall can provide," she said. Mulry added that she is prepared to vote no on the budget cut, which was proposed by Murray and Lipton.
Mulry said she is worried about what the village would do if the Hispanic Brotherhood no longer provided Section 8 services. "We would have no way of communicating in-house with people who speak only Spanish," she said.
She also said that the reason for the proposed cut wasn't entirely clear to her. "It's not that much money, just $10,000," Mulry said. "It doesn't come from the taxpayers, it comes from the federal government." She said she had no idea where the money would go if it were not used for the Section 8 services of the Brotherhood.
Lipton said that the issue of the Brotherhood's budget being made public during the forum was merely a political ploy by the Residents' Voice party, to which Mulry, Karamouzis and Sullivan belong. "Unfortunately," Lipton said, "during election time things turn into election-time rhetoric," and this was one of those things that got "blown way out of proportion and can be chalked up to election-time antics."
Lipton insisted that the Brotherhood never stood to lose any money. He said that if anything, the group would likely get more money, despite the Section 8 budget cut. He explained that the organization had applied for a $10,000 grant which it would likely receive.
"Nobody is going to hurt the Hispanic Brotherhood," Lipton said. "Their work is too important. How funds come about is something that requires financial and fiscal responsibility."
However, the $10,000 grant, which Mulry said is a Community Development Grant, is equivalent to the money the organization stands to lose with a budget cut. She added that when the Brotherhood applied for the grant, "They weren't anticipating that other federal or state funds would be cut."
Mulry continued, "All this money comes to Rockville Centre from the federal or county government, and I don't think we should be allowing any of it to be cut. We should welcome all the grant money we can get under the Community Development program or Section 8. Why would we be rejecting money coming from the Section 8 program that would be used to benefit Rockville Centre residents?"
Meetings with Grasing and other members of the Brotherhood are planned before to any decisions are made regarding the Section 8 budget. However, with the recent election of Sullivan to the board, teaming up with Mulry and Karamouzis, it's not likely that a budget cut would be approved.
There is also the issue of whether the proposal should have been made public. At the forum, Murray was guarded, calling it a privileged, rather than public, discussion. Even Lipton said that there never was a plan to have a public discussion about it. "This isn't a matter that is normally decided by public input, but by a management board," Lipton said. "We certainly are very proud of [the Brotherhood's] accomplishments, but this is a very mechanical thing. No one has any intention of doing anything that would harm them in any way, shape or form."
Mulry, however, said there should be nothing privileged about the issue. "It's a budget item and should be discussed in public before it is agreed upon...," she said. "Government has to be open. This is something the Hispanic community should have known. They're the ones affected by it."
Mulry added, "These sort of decisions, where a budget cut affects the community by cutting funds the village is receiving, should be presented to the community in an open manner."
Comments about this story? TRazzano@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 221.
