By Nick Buglione
Regardless of its outcome, this race is already historic. It represents the first time the Democratic Party has made a legitimate push to unseat the executive head of the town, considered by many to be one of Nassau County's last GOP strongholds.
After working in the Nassau County district attorney's office for 27 years, Levinson kicked off his political career by pulling an upset, beating incumbent Charles O'Shea for county assessor in 2003.
Pundits agree that he'll have to pull off an even bigger upset if he wants to become town supervisor. Levinson says he's up to the challenge, and he raises a number of issues, from taxes to patronage.
On illegal housing, Levinson said, "Society can't just look the other way, and that's what the town is doing," Levinson said. "They're not enforcing their laws."
Aside from the sanitation, parking and quality-of-life issues they pose, illegal rentals place an unfair tax burden on law-abiding homeowners, residents and civic leaders have said.
In June 2004, Levinson proposed reclassifying houses that absentee landlords rent out to multiple boarders as Class 4 commercial properties, which would cost the landlords thousands of dollars more in taxes and potentially coax them out of the illegal rental business. To date, he has reclassified 25 of these houses.
Murray said that Levinson's reclassification initiative is too slow and small in scope to have any real effect on the problem. She also questioned its legality. "Zoning authority rests exclusively with the Town of Hempstead or the villages," said Murray, a Levittown resident who was appointed town supervisor in 2002, following Richard Guardino's resignation, and re-elected in 2003. "I'm not sure where he gets the constitutional power."
Levinson argued that he is not rezoning properties, merely adjusting their tax rates to reflect their use.
Since taking office, Murray said, the town has come down hard on illegal rentals, stiffening fines, hiring more building inspectors and broadening their enforcement powers.
Murray described the construction of affordable housing as one of her biggest accomplishments. The town has built 200 single-family work force homes in the last 20 years. "We can't build them fast enough," Murray said. "It's very difficult to find open space."
Meanwhile, Levinson proposed building mixed-use housing in commercial downtowns as an answer to the affordable-housing issue. He also said he is for exploring the possibility of legalizing accessory apartments, as other municipalities have done. "I have an open mind to accessory apartments," Levinson said.
Taking aim at the tax systems within the various garbage, fire and water districts in the town, Levinson said that residents have huge disparities in taxes but receive essentially the same services. He said that arbitrary boundaries result in those differences, particularly in the garbage districts. "There are 200 different tax rates, depending on where you live in Hempstead town," he said.
In Baldwin, for instance, Levinson said, residents on one side of Foxhurst Road pay 80 percent more in garbage-district taxes for the same services as their neighbors on the other side of the street. He proposed consolidating garbage and water districts to make taxes more uniform.
Stating that the town has no authority over these special districts and their taxing, Murray said many residents would be averse to consolidation. "The residents are fairly happy with the services they receive," she said. "Harvey Levinson is trying to impress his will on the residents."
While Levinson pointed out that town taxes went up 15 percent last year, Murray has a tax freeze in store for 2006. "A lot of governments are struggling to make ends meet," she said. "We are the highest rated municipality on Long Island." Reducing overtime 40 percent and pursuing grants has allowed the town to remain comfortably in the black, Murray said.
Levinson said the town wastes tens of thousands dollars each year churning out mailings to residents. "I don't have anything against the public being informed, but only absolutely critical information should be mailed," he said. "There's a cheaper way to do it."
Levinson also charged that some of the mailings Murray has sent out have been tantamount to campaign literature, which shouldn't be sent out at taxpayers' expense. He is pushing for the state or county Board of Elections to establish a committee to review and approve any municipal or special taxing district mailing of 1,000 pieces or more that would go out 150 days before an election.
Murray countered that it's hypocritical for Levinson to allege that she has misused government resources to promote her re-election when he has used his position as county assessor to publicize his campaign.
Comments about this story? NBuglione@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
