By Dan Israeli
Two major recommendations called for an end to salaries and benefits for special district commissioners, and for all commissioner-run sanitation districts to be consolidated under town management. Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman, who serves on the commission, said that though the proposed items were removed from the budget, the decision does not spell the end of the reforms.
"The reforms recommended by the commission ... were pulled from the budget and will be considered individually, as part of the commission's report, after the budget is finalized," Weitzman said. "The state leaders understand how important these reforms are to our hard-pressed taxpayers."
The commission's report, due to be presented to Gov. David Paterson by April 15, will outline a list of proposals on local government reform. The issue of special districts is especially pertinent to Long Island, where there are 200 such governmental units - providing everything from sewer service to fire protection, and accounting for more than 50 percent of the state's total revenue collected from special districts. They also account for 35 percent of the average tax bill in the Town of Hempstead, where special districts provide services.
Stan Lundine, chairman of the commission, said he did not consider the removal of the proposals to be a setback. "I don't think there's any particular significance that neither the Assembly or Senate included the language we suggested," Lundine said. "The proposals should be judged on their merits at a later time." Lundine is a former U.S. representative, a former mayor of Jamestown, N.Y., and a former lieutenant governor.
It now appears that the commission's recommendations will have to be introduced individually as bills during the legislative session that will follow the current budget negotiations. Laura Mallay, the founder and executive director of Residents for Efficient Special Districts (RESD), a nonpartisan organization of Long Island residents, has led a petition drive in support of the commission's reforms, visiting a number of civic groups in the area to collect signatures and educate residents on the ways in which special districts affect their tax bills.
"Of course, in a best-case scenario [the reforms] would have been included in the budget - a quick fix," Mallay said of the decision to remove the commission's recommendations from the budget. "We understand the reasoning behind it, and while they are out of the budget, I think these changes will still happen down the line."
The commission includes three state legislators, one of whom is state Sen. Craig M. Johnson (D-Port Washington). While Johnson agreed that the reform items don't belong in a budget proposal, he also noted the complexities that arise with statewide consolidation. It's a complicated issue," he said. "It's something that warrants discussion at a local level. There are special districts that have shown an abuse of power, but it's different from region to region, district to district. Its almost like putting a round peg into a square hole." Johnson said the matter requires strong public input from residents who use special district services.
The other two lawmakers on the commission, state Sen. Elizabeth O'Connor Little and Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, are the chairs of the Senate and Assembly committees on local government, respectively. Responding to the reforms' being taken out of the budget, Hoyt said it's all about how you spin the situation. "If you're an optimist, you'd say no worries, it isn't necessary to include them in the budget process," he said. "If you're a pessimist, you'd say these are individuals who don't support progressive change, and they did everything they could to kill the proposal. I am an optimist."
Hoyt explained that during the upcoming legislative session, the reforms can be introduced as a single comprehensive piece of legislation - called an omnibus local government reform bill - or as individual bills. He said that while he does not agree with every reform of local government being proposed, he passionately supports the consolidation of sanitation districts and putting an end to paying special district commissioners. "They are absolute no-brainers," he said. "Those decisions are in the best interest of the state, and I will proudly sponsor both of them as legislation."
Other local legislators agree that the state budget, and its broader financial implications, are the more important concerns right now, and that local government reforms will be addressed when the commission releases its final report this month. "We need to wait and see what is in the commission's report before we begin a three-month legislative session," said Tom Dunham, spokesman for state Sen. Dean Skelos.
Special district services in the Town of Hempstead, whether they be sanitation or water, spend as much as three times what town or village services do to provide those services. In total, Nassau County's 200 or so special districts levied $491 million in property taxes last year, a figure that could no doubt be reduced if sanitation districts were consolidated and commissioners' salaries and benefits were eliminated.
Lundine noted the difficulty in reaching a consensus among commission members, especially when dealing with hotly debated ideas like consolidation. "It is an enormous challenge, because New York has a great deal of diversity," Lundine said. "Situations in Long Island are vastly different from western New York, so we have to consider the local impacts. There is also a fundamental challenge in getting people to think about reform. Many government associations are against change."
Comments about this story? DIsraeli@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 214.
