By Tom Jordan
County legislators knew as far back as July that many homeowners faced a large increase in the sewage tax this year, according to information obtained this week by the Herald, yet never alerted those homeowners.
Eric Naughton, acting director for the Office of Legislative Budget Review, is quoted in minutes from the Nassau County Budget Review Committee's meeting of July 17 saying legislators could expect a substantial deficit in Sewer Disposal District Two.
"It appears that they could have about an $8 million shortfall in revenue, which would mean that the district will have a major deficit to start next year," Naughton said.
Without publicity, that deficit was passed along this year to residents of Sewer District Two, who were shocked when their tax bills arrived. While the average household in the rest of Nassau is seeing the much-publicized 8.9 percent overall increase in county property taxes, residents in Sewer District Two were hit with much higher increases.
"Maybe the people should have been notified," said Legis. Joseph Scannell (D-Baldwin), whose legislative district covers Sewer District Two. "There was nothing intentional in the fact that they were not notified. It's just that the Legislature had never tweaked that part of the budget before, and their focus was on other items. The legislators' traditional role in the budget deals more with the parks tax, police tax, things of that nature."
But, Scannell concluded, "We probably could have done a better job of getting the word out to people."
Bills obtained from four Rockville Centre residents show a 55 percent spike in their sewage taxes, leading to overall tax increases from 20 to 25 percent. According to Mark Young, budget director for the Legislature's Democratic majority, sewer district taxes "vary from homeowner to homeowner based on the water usage and maintenance costs in individual communities."
Scannell blamed the revenue shortfall in Sewer District Two on county Republicans, particularly former majority leader Bruce Blakeman, saying taxes should have been raised in the 2000 budget. Scannell said Republicans did not raise taxes then because they feared it would hurt their chances for reelection.
Scannell said Blakeman relied on grant money from the federal and state governments to cover the sewer district deficit last year. But the grants never materialized.
"It was a case of short-term political budgeting," Scannell said. "It's frustrating, because they played with [the sewage tax] like a football just before elections last year. They punted it away until later."
Blakeman could not be reached for comment but Bob Lazaro, press secretary for the Republican legislators, said "It seems convenient to point fingers at past elected officials. The fact is, Joe Scannell is the legislator for the Fifth District and he has to take responsibility for how he voted. If he had any problems, they should have been brought up before the budget was passed.
"The fact of the matter is, the Sewer District Two budget rises and falls based on the capital needs of the district." This year's district budget was increased by $20.6 million to $58 million.
Scannell stood by his vote to increase the sewer budget. "We made a hard decision [in July] that the Republicans couldn't make" in 1999. "I'm proud that we stepped up to the plate.
"It's frustrating that one of the wealthiest counties in America finds itself in this fiscal mess, but here is a perfect example why," he said.
Scannell doesn't expect the sewer rate to drop back next year. "We'll continue to need the revenue. This isn't the type of tax you can hit people with for a year and then rescind."
In a memo to Scannell on Jan. 12, Young wrote that the tax increase was attributable to "increasing water usage, water collection and disposal costs and the need to cover deficits that were created in 1999."
The increase was especially steep for veterans. Because they receive a discount on all county taxes except sewage disposal, the increase weighs more heavily on them. Paul Keller, a World War II veteran, saw an overall 30 percent increase on his bill.
"Fortunately, my finances can stand such a boost," Keller said. "However, this does not mean that I am not upset by it. I am upset for all the valiant veterans for whom an increase of this proportion may well mean hardships ahead."
