By JOSEPH KELLARD
Nassau County legislators Jeff Toback, Michael Zapson and Joe Scannell, all representatives of Oceanside and hosts of the Town Hall meeting last Wednesday, presented their case for incorporation. They were followed by some two dozen residents who voiced their thoughts on the proposal's complex facets, from its costs to parking regulations.
The legislators' basic position was that incorporation offers residents more say in and control over issues affecting their community, such as zoning and building code enforcement. Since village officials would likely be Oceanside residents, they would have a greater stake in how the area is governed compared with officials from the Town of Hempstead, the largest township in the United States, the three legislators argued. Among other benefits of incorporation are greater accessibility to governing officials, lower taxes, and smaller, more efficient government, the legislators said.
Oceanside currently receives municipal services from Nassau County, the Town of Hempstead, the Oceanside Fire District, Sanitation District No. 7 and the Oceanside School District. If the community were to incorporate, it would remain part of the town and would be required to continue paying town taxes to support its share of service costs, such as recreation and the library. Other major services, such as the fire department and sewer and water, however, would be localized and cease being part of a district. To govern a village, incorporation requires that residents elect a mayor and four trustees, and a village clerk, treasurer and attorney must be appointed.
"If Oceanside separates completely from the town and Hempstead gets not one cent from us -- not like these other villages that are incorporated, where they have to pay a certain amount of dollars to them -- you will then have a voice," said David Gothartz, a lifelong Oceansider, who claimed that the town doesn't care about Oceanside's needs. "It means we will not be pushed around by another municipality."
Resident Ira Gordon said he found village services better in his former home of Cedarhurst, which is incorporated. Gordon said that potholes were filled more quickly and streets cleaned more regularly in Cedarhurst than they are with town services in Oceanside. "[But] as citizens and voters, we all have to be vigilant about how we are governed," Gordon warned the audience. "Because people don't come out and vote and don't attend village meetings, [local government] is subject to abuse and corruption."
Kevin Schmidt, a second-year resident of Oceanside, said he enjoyed living in incorporated Malverne because, in part, he could walk down to Village Hall with his concerns. "I think it would be better to have smaller, more accessible government," Schmidt said. "But I think we all have to be convinced that incorporation will be a lesser financial burden."
The cost of a village hall and other needed structures and vehicles, possible difficulties with transfer of government services such as those provided by the Department of Public Works, overnight parking regulations, and parking meters were recurring objections among residents opposed to incorporation. Their other common concerns were that it adds another unwanted layer of government, could increase taxes, and could potentially create a multi-million-dollar bond rating.
"I want less government," yelled an unidentified resident who said he once lived in Valley Stream. "I don't want a mayor or trustees, because I don't trust any of them." The audience met his comments with their loudest applause of the evening.
"If the village comes into being, the fire district and the sanitation district become part of the village," Toback said. "That's two layers of government gone. And our connection with the Town of Hempstead is reduced by 90 percent."
"Our concern is that we are taxed very heavily," said Arleen Lippman, an Oceanside realtor for 20 years. "We in Oceanside still have a tax base that's a little bit lower than anyplace else. Will this be affected by incorporation?"
Responding to similar concerns about increased taxation, Toback said that "the only way that people in Oceanside are going to lower their taxes any time in the foreseeable future is to change our form of government."
During his presentation, Toback displayed comparable Oceanside and Rockville Centre tax bills that showed the latter to be lower. "A village is just run more efficiently than the town, and everything that I have seen points to the fact that if Oceanside were to incorporate, the taxes that we're paying for the local services would be lowered," he argued.
Resident Joe Garafola accused Toback of using the Rockville Centre tax bill to his advantage, and Oceanside school board member Diane O'Connor, who pointed out that a tax bill used by Toback was actually a tax receipt, told the legislator, "It's disgraceful that you didn't come here with some kind of tax plan as to what this is going to cost."
In his presentation, Toback said that since the meeting was "informational" and "really a starting point, there are questions we don't have answers to." Following O'Connor's criticism, he said that the details of incorporation would be worked out later, including a budget, and that the receipt he presented as a bill was an honest error.
In presenting the procedures for incorporation required by state law, Toback said the first major step in the process necessitates that 20 percent of registered voters in a village sign a petition in favor of incorporation, which in Oceanside means approximately 4,300 signatures. The petition would be presented to the town supervisor, who would be required to call residents to a vote for or against incorporation.
Since residents' interest in this issue has been considerable, many people were turned away from the meeting, Toback said. A second meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Oceanside Middle School.
