By MIKE CAPUTO
Officially titled the New N.Y. Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act, the legislation, now under review in the Senate, states that "local government is too expensive, confusing, inefficient and susceptible to waste, fraud and abuse." School districts and towns would be exempt from the measure, but villages would not be.
Under the proposed law, an individual or group wishing to push for consolidation or elimination of a special district would not have to live in that district. Further, the percentage of voters required to approve such a measure would be reduced.
Republican Assemblymen Tom McKevitt and Rob Walker, who both represent parts of Salisbury and East Meadow, were among a contingent of Long Island members who voted against the bill.
Both McKevitt and Walker complained that the bill would grant Nassau County government the right to add a referendum to a countywide ballot that could abolish or consolidate special districts. McKevitt explained that such a decision should be in the hands of the residents that district serves, not the entire county. "It allows countywide voters to abolish the individual district against the will of the individual district," he said. "Instead of empowering home rule, this actually takes away home rule."
Walker said the bill needed to be reworked, and lacked a framework for saving money. "There is not one mention of the words 'tax relief,'" he said. "As we go forward with any type of plan ... it has to include step one, how to save money with consolidation. Without saving money, then what are we talking about? That, to me, is first and foremost: to address how we decrease tax dollars and decrease the tax burden, which I don't think it goes far enough to do."
County Executive Tom Suozzi and Comptroller Howard Weitzman have long fought to eliminate sanitation, sewer and other taxing authorities as a means of reducing property taxes. "I commend the attorney general for joining the consolidation effort," Suozzi said. "This legislation would put power in the hands of property taxpayers."
Carey Welt, chairman of the East Meadow Board of Fire Commissioners, said that the cost of training, equipment and insurance will always be a factor for any entity running emergency services.
Fire district services account for about 1 to 2 percent of an East Meadow homeowner's property tax bill, Welt said. School district costs comprise about 60 percent of a tax bill, with the county, town and special districts dividing up the rest.
"How much are we really talking about saving?" Welt said. "You're never going to get rid of the whole fire tax. You're still going to have something no matter what entity is in control - the county or the town, or multiple districts consolidated into one. They are focusing on the wrong part of the tax bill."
The Hicksville Water District, which serves portions of eastern Salisbury and East Meadow, could also be affected if the bill becomes law. Karl Schweitzer, chairman of the Hicksville Board of Water Commissioners, said he is in favor of legislation that simplifies the process of giving district residents the right to decide on the future of their local governing body. However, he was against the new bill because it would give that power to county governments.
"We have been in favor all along of streamlining the process for our residents, and we have been very clear [that] if it is a way that our residents can get a better system to consolidate or dissolve our district or any other district, then we are happy with that," Schweitzer said. "The key piece of legislation that is wrong is that it gives the opportunity for the county executive, whomever it may be, to put his own plan together for a countywide referendum before all the taxpayers in Nassau County, and not the people in the district," he added. "We don't think that's fair."
Like Schweitzer, Walker and McKevitt, Welt explained that the decision should be left up to the taxpayers in that district. "Why should it be the general electorate to decide, when it's the property owner that is really footing the bill?" Welt said.
The Senate had not yet voted on the bill as the Herald went to press on Tuesday.
Comments about this story? MCaputo@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
