By Nick Buglione
Republican incumbent Kate Murray announced on May 26 that she is running for re-election - just three days after Nassau County Assessor Harvey Levinson, a Democrat, said he would be challenging her for her seat.
The announcements, however, were merely formalities. The two had begun trading barbs in the media well over a month before.
Considered by many to be the last GOP stronghold in Nassau County, the Town of Hempstead's elections have brought few surprises in Novembers past, with Republican incumbents usually cruising to victory.
But Levinson is no stranger to upsets - he beat favored incumbent Charles O'Shea for county assessor by 1,600 votes in 2003 - and he is sure he can beat Murray. "It's clear I'm going to win," said the former county assistant district attorney. "They know they're in trouble."
It seemed as if Levinson began campaigning for town supervisor a year ago, when he initiated a crusade against illegal rentals. Illegal rental enforcement is the town Building Department's responsibility. Aside from the sanitation, parking and quality-of-life issues they pose, illegal rentals place an unfair tax burden on law-abiding homeowners, civic leaders say.
So, in June 2004, Levinson proposed to reclassify 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 hopefully coax them out of the illegal rental business. To date, he has reclassified 18 homes, he said.
"The refusal of the town to enforce their own building codes has resulted in higher school property taxes and higher garbage-collection taxes, since more people living in a house will require more services," Levinson said. "And our quality of life suffers, with even older people and the disabled unable to find parking in front of their own homes."
In January, Levinson took aim at the tax systems within the various garbage, fire and water districts in the town. He said he found "huge disparities in what we pay for the same service based on arbitrary boundaries," particularly in the garbage districts. "Residents on one side of Foxhurst Road in Baldwin pay 80 percent more in garbage-district taxes for the same services as their neighbors on the other side of the street," Levinson said.
Though Murray claims she has no authority over these special districts and their taxing, Levinson said that if he is elected, he'll create one garbage-collection service with a uniform tax system.
He has also made headlines with his suggestion that the state look into replacing school property taxes on homes with an income tax. "Property taxes are out of control, and as chairman of the county Board of Assessors, no one knows that better than I do," he said. "Nowhere in the county is our property tax problem more severe, and more inequitable, than it is in the Town of Hempstead."
Levinson's opponent, however, has called the income tax proposal "a recipe for fiscal chaos." "Not one county in the state has an income tax," Murray said. "What do the other counties know that Harvey Levinson doesn't get?"
Murray is hoping the town's financial health will propel her to re-election. Rated in the top 1 percent of all municipalities in the state, the Town of Hempstead has been ranked five grades above Nassau County by two Wall Street credit rating agencies, she said. "Because of the town's top credit rating, the town receives among the lowest interest costs on borrowings," she said. "We've actually saved taxpayers over $1 million on one recent refinancing alone."
Murray has also promised that the town will not raise taxes next year. "Later this year, I will propose a budget that freezes all town taxes," she said.
With downtown beautification projects under way throughout the town, Murray said she is working hard to revitalize commercial districts and help small businesses. And, contrary to Levinson's accusations, the town has remained committed to fighting illegal rentals, hiring more building department inspectors and increasing fines for violators, she said.
The town is also working on building more affordable homes, the lack of which is a key element in the proliferation of illegal rentals, Murray said. "We're building beautiful, single-family homes and providing rental apartments and building senior citizen cooperatives," she said. "We are determined to help young people and older residents to remain in our town with construction of affordable quality homes and apartments."
Comments about this story? NBuglione@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
