January 23, 2012

News 12

Critics push to get special sanitation districts thrown out

A Nassau group is urging officials to toss out special sanitation districts on the grounds that they waste thousands of taxpayer dollars.

The special districts have been in place on Long Island for decades and cover services that include trash pickup.

On one street in the Town of Hempstead, residents pay about $1,000 per year to have their garbage picked up, plus an additional $320 for that garbage to be disposed of at the Hempstead dump. Residents who live about a half-mile away pay roughly half that amount for the same services because they're part of the Town of Hempstead sanitation district.

Laura Mallay, one vocal critic from Rockville Centre, is circulating a petition against the special districts that has more than 3,000 signatures already, she says. She's urging the town to consolidate its services to save residents money.

There are some such consolidation efforts under way in other sanitation districts within the Town of Hempstead.

Mallay: LIers have the tool to consolidate

Originally published: May 10, 2011 6:40 PM
Updated: May 10, 2011 7:47 PM
By LAURA MALLAY

Laura Mallay is the executive director of Residents for Efficient Special Districts, a nonpartisan grassroots group based in Baldwin.

Long Islanders are less supportive than other New Yorkers when it comes to consolidating local governments. That was one of the findings by the Dyson Foundation, in partnership with the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, in a report released last month.

That sentiment will be used to justify attempts by Sen. Jack Martins (R-Mineola) and Assemb. Michelle Schimel (D-Great Neck) to weaken a law providing residents a way to consolidate local districts. But when you consider that there are more local governments on Long Island -- and residents pay more in property taxes to these entities -- than anywhere else in New York, it's an odd finding.

In addition to the county, town and village governments supported by property taxes, there are hundreds of special taxing districts across Long Island, providing such services as sanitation, water and fire.

The Town of Hempstead alone has five sanitation districts, not counting its own sanitation service. These six entities provide almost identical services to around 800,000 people, all within one town. Last year, a home assessed at $400,000 serviced by the Town of Hempstead paid $267 in sanitation taxes, while an identically assessed home in Sanitation District 2 paid $509. Special taxing districts create and sustain such inequities.

Why wouldn't Long Islanders want to address this? They may not know that they can. The Dyson report found that 86 percent of New Yorkers have heard little or nothing about consolidating local government. Even though there have been numerous articles detailing the inefficiencies and ineffectiveness of local government, many residents remain unaware of the issue.

You'd be hard-pressed to find many Long Islanders who don't know that the vote for their local school boards and budgets is held on the third Tuesday each May -- which is understandable, given that 65 percent to 70 percent of property taxes fund the schools here. Yet how many people know when their sanitation district election is? Special district elections are held on at least 24 different days in Nassau County, with at least one special district election occurring in 11 months each year. Even within the Town of Hempstead, elections for the different sanitary districts fall on different dates.

When people do remember to vote, the counts are desultory. In the last Sanitary District 6 election, in 2010, only around 200 votes were cast. The same year, more than 2,800 votes were cast in West Hempstead alone for the school budget and board election. The sanitation election numbers are even more anemic when you consider that the district covers West Hempstead, Franklin Square, Elmont, Garden City South, Lakeview, Malverne Park and South Floral Park -- an area vastly larger than the West Hempstead School District. It's no wonder most local governments on Long Island operate with virtually no public accountability.

Where could this all lead? Just look upstate, where the local economy has been slowly decaying for years. People have left because of high property taxes and a lack of good paying jobs. That leaves fewer residents to pay for the multiple levels of government that exist there. As the property taxes increase for those who remain, more people leave -- creating a downward spiral.

Long Islanders can do something to avoid that vicious cycle. The New York Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act, written by former Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, gives residents a mechanism to consolidate local governments if a majority of voters want to do so. The legislation empowers citizens across the state to initiate the consolidation and dissolution of local government through a petition process, and makes the proceedings subject to a popular vote. The Fair Harbor Fire District and the Lonelyville Fire District on Fire Island have begun the consolidation process under the new law.

Unfortunately, the Martins bill, which has passed the Senate, and Schimel's Assembly bill would greatly diminish this law. The governor should veto the legislation if it gets to his desk.

If Long Islanders are truly serious about lowering their tax burden, consolidating local governments and services should be part of the effort. Residents have the power. It's up to them to take responsibility and decide what kind of future they want for Long Island.

Fire district told to cut, or clear out

Originally published: February 8, 2011 10:01 AM
Updated: February 8, 2011 10:25 AM
By PATRICK WHITTLE AND STACEY ALTHERR.  patrick.whittle@newsday.com,, stacey.altherr@newsday.com

Photo credit: Ed Betz | Firefighter Carter Brown, right, and fire chief Erton Rudder stand inside the Gordon Heights Fire District station. (Jan. 15, 2010)

Cut back or close down.

The Gordon Heights Fire District - the most-taxed special district on Long Island - should slash expenditures by 40 percent and submit to enhanced oversight by Brookhaven Town, or face dissolution, according to a consultant's report released Monday by the town.

The study was in response to a petition drive by residents who have opposed the 900-home district's taxes, which are more than $1,200 per year for the owner of a home with a market value of $200,000. Gordon Heights' tax rate is nearly double that of the next-highest fire district in Brookhaven.

The two options will be the subject of community meetings and eventually a town public hearing, which will be followed by a town board vote, said Councilwoman Connie Kepert, who represents the area.

"We're going to have to make some hard choices," said Kepert, who declined to take a stance but said "dissolution or reduction of service" will almost definitely befall the district, which has a $1.4 million budget.

Town Supervisor Mark Lesko declined to comment.

Fire District Commissioner James Kelly said he understands the taxpayers' concerns, but added that the Gordon Heights district is a community fixture. It was Suffolk's first all-black fire fighting force, founded in the 1940s.

"You have to come up with an answer that's going to be beneficial to you and for everybody else," he said.

Paul Sabatino, a Huntington attorney who has been working with the group that has been advocating for dissolving and replacing the district, said the report's findings are a victory for his clients.

"It vindicates what the sponsors of the petition have been saying the past five years," he said.

Gina Previte, a resident among the group spearheading the petition, agreed with Sabatino that drastically cutting expenses did not seem like a viable option for the tiny district, which has little commercial property, leaving residents to carry the tax burden.

"You don't have the economy of scale," she said. "We are concerned for our vulnerability in the future."

Districts named in the report as candidates to shoulder some of Gordon Heights' calls if the district disbands were Medford, Coram, Middle Island and Yaphank.

Medford Commissioner Frank Grande said his district is taking a "wait and see" approach for the time being.

"Initially, we felt it would put a big strain on our resources," he said. "We are having enough trouble responding to our own calls."

A representative from the Middle Island district said officials there will wait to digest the report before taking a stance. Attempts to contact Yaphank and Coram fire officials were not successful.

 Options outlined in study

 The 154-page Fire District Dissolution Study, authored by Emergency Services Consulting International at the request of Brookhaven Town, outlines four options for the Gordon Heights Fire District and recommends two of them:

Preferred Option One

Maintain status quo but with substantial financial cutbacks, reductions and oversight by the town. Those cuts could mean a 39.5 percent reduction in the total budget and tax rate.

Agree to oversight by the town.

Among the suggested cutbacks:

Sell off 13 of the 19 district vehicles.

Dissolve two salaried positions (excluding ambulance staff) and combine the secretary, treasurer and clerk positions into one slot.

Contract out for auto maintenance and have the volunteers clean the building.

Preferred Option Two

If the district does not agree to oversight and cuts, the report recommends the district be dissolved and that a fire protection district be created.

The new district would contract with providers for fire and emergency services through competitive bidding.

There would be competition in the bid process. Volunteers most likely could still serve out of the historic fire house.

Other findings:

Gordon Heights has the highest fire district tax rate on Long Island. In Brookhaven, Gordon Heights Fire District residents average $60.83 per $100 assessed value, 89 percent higher than the next highest - the nearby Coram Fire District at $32.217.

In 2009, 155 of the 605 EMS calls were for runs made outside the district in what is called "mutual aid" calls. The report recommends limiting those runs.

Consolidation with any of the four bordering fire districts would mean a slight increase in taxes for that district's residents and much lower taxes but longer response times for Gordon Heights residents.

Average response time in Gordon Heights now is 14 minutes, 43 seconds on 90 percent of calls - 5 minutes, 43 seconds longer than the national standard.

Cost per EMS incident for Gordon Heights is $1,247.37; nearby Medford Ambulance's cost per incident is $579.59.

Source: Fire District Dissolution Study by Emergency Services Consulting International

Originally published: December 9, 2010 10:05 PM
Updated: December 9, 2010 10:09 PM
By STACEY ALTHERR  stacey.altherr@newsday.com

Map

Satellite

Hybrid

Terrain

Long Island fire districts are scrambling to prepare for Tuesday's commissioner elections after learning they can't use new optical voting machines and are prohibited by state law from using the old lever-style machines.

Board of Elections officials say the new machines cannot be readied in time for the elections after being impounded by court order as part of the recent general election recounts.

Most fire districts in Suffolk and about a quarter of them in Nassau will use the old voting machines, election officials say, even though the state does not allow for it. As of Thursday, 90 Suffolk districts and 12 in Nassau had ordered the old machines from the county elections boards.

New York State Board of Elections officials said the state law is clear.

"No one should be using the old machines except for school districts," said John Conklin, state elections spokesman, adding districts had an alternative - paper ballots.

The law exempts school districts from having to use the new voting equipment through 2012. But Conklin said the law doesn't allow special districts to apply for waivers from the equipment requirements. And he warned that while the law contains no "enforcement" powers, using the old machines could open the districts to legal challenges.

But Massapequa attorney Joseph Frank, who represents several fire districts, said the law leaves them "in a difficult position." "The State Legislature addressed this for school districts, but not any other local government," he said.

The state "caused confusion" by not considering the law's impact on special district elections, said Jesse Garcia, assistant to Suffolk Commissioner Wayne Rogers.

"The law wasn't meant to tie people's hands and say, 'Well, nobody can vote because there's no machines,' " said Gordon Heights Fire Commissioner Maryanne Owens.

South Hempstead Fire District will use paper ballots, said Commissioner Paul Cartier. His district has an uncontested election that usually brings a low turnout.

But in Rocky Point, where as many as 600 people usually vote, the district has opted to use the old machines. "I'm concerned, to be honest," said Commissioner Anthony Gallino, also the Suffolk County Fire District Officers Association president. "I don't think anybody from the state reached out to tell us it was against the law to use the [old] machines."

Special districts, such as fire and water districts, libraries and villages, are responsible for running their own elections, without oversight from the state or county. They rent voting machines from the county boards of elections.

But the chaos this time has led Nassau's Board of Elections to require districts to sign a waiver holding it harmless should lawsuits arise from using the lever-style machines, said board Democratic Elections Commissioner William Biamonte.

Election officials from both counties said it takes time to reconfigure the new machines' software for a new election, and workers have to be trained to use them. The recount delay made it impossible to do that by next week.

When the new machines were introduced, the state recommended that all elections have the scannable ballots available for 110 percent of registered voters.

Yet only a fraction of the population votes in fire district elections. Many such races have less than 500 voters turn out, Biamonte said, and at about 50 cents a ballot, the cost can be prohibitive, officials say.

Commissioner Thomas Mastakouris of the South Farmingdale Fire District wondered why the state didn't allow special districts to "piggyback" on the school district exemption.

The Association of Fire Districts of the State of New York is planning to ask the State Legislature to give the districts a waiver that enables them to use the lever-style machines in next year's election, said William Young, the association's attorney.

"We're talking about a machine which historically, for the last 80 and 90 years, has worked very well," he said.

With Patrick Whittle

and William Murphy

by Laura Schofer

Hundreds of residents expresed their anger and frustration over the proposed 12% increase to their water rates proposed by Aqua New York, the public water utility that serves approximately 45,000 residents in Bellmore, Merrick, Wantagh, Seaford and parts of Levittown and Massapequa, at two public hearings last week. Aqua New York is seeking to increase its revenue by $3.4 million.

Adminstrative law Judge Gerald Lynch, representing the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC), the state agency that regulates public utilities in New York, listened patiently as one resident after another bitterly complained about the cost and services provided by Aqua New York. Many also called for the takeover of the public utility.

“I assure you that all comments will be part of the complete record [for this case],” said Judge Lynch, who added at the opening of the first hearing that he had already received 1,000 comments from customers.

“That is a lot,” he said. “I will read each and every comment and summarize it. Then I will make my recommendation.”

Judge Lynch said that a five-member panel, appointed by Governor David Paterson with the approval of the state Senate, will ultimately decide how much, if at all, Aqua may raise its rates in order to provide “safe and adequate service at a just and reasonable rate,” said Judge Lynch.

No increase
“I don’t believe this company is entitled to anything,” said Howard Fishkin of North Bellmore. “I already pay the highest rates in the county.” He waved his bill from the podium at the Merrick Library.

David Stemple of Merrick said, “Many people are on fixed incomes and they can’t afford to drink the water. It’s a disgrace.”

Local elected officials agreed. State Senator Charles Fuschillo Jr., state Assemblyman Dave McDonough, and county Legislators David Denenberg and Dave Mejias all urged Judge Lynch to oppose any kind of increase.

Fire Districts to see largest hike
Aqua has also petitioned the PSC for a 27% rate hike for fire hydrant rentals.

The North Bellmore Fire District has 176 hydrants in Aqua New York’s service area. The hydrants are now being rented for $545.76 and could increase to $693.18.

The Bellmore Fire District rents 368 fire hydrants from Aqua at approximately the same cost. The 27% rate hike will cost Bellmore an additional $42,000 in rental fees.

North Merrick, Merrick and Wantagh also face steep increases.

North Merrick Fire Commissioner Enzo Lippolis said “the proposed increase will have a profound negative impact on the residents. If this rate increase is approved, not only will residents be facing higher water bills for their homes, they will also be forced to absorb the 27% increase in hydrant rental fees through an increase in fire district taxes.”

Muncipal water system vs. public utility
Residents questioned why Aqua’s water rates are so much higher than their neighbors in East Meadow, who are part of the municipal water system run by the Town of Hempstead.

Aqua is a public utility regulated by the state. But municipal water districts such as the Town of Hempstead are not under the authority of the Public Service Commission.

“In East Meadow it costs $17 for 15,000 gallons of water in a three-month period,” said Legislator Denenberg. “In Merrick you pay $59 for 13,000 gallons of water or three-and-a-half times more money for less water.”

He also pointed to the difference in the cost of hydrant rental. “In the Town of Hempstead water district, fire hydrant rental is $75 per hydrant,” said Legislator Denenberg.

Judge Lynch said the water rates of Aqua, a public utility, and the Town of Hempstead’s municipal water district are difficult to compare.

“Municipal water systems have two sources of revenue ­–­ water rates and taxes. Also, municipal water systems don’t pay property taxes,” said Judge Lynch. He added that Aqua must pay $8 million in property taxes and is entitled to recoup “reasonable costs,” or “you will have the spiral of impossibility,” inferring that Aqua could go out of business.

But Senator Fuschillo pointed to the $98 million in profits Aqua America, Aqua New York’s parent company, made in 2008 and the $5 million it paid its executives.

Anthony Vitale of Merrick said, “Corporations love to be treated as individuals. Let them tighten their belt like me. If you want this to be pure capitalism, then let them sink or swim. Corporations must produce profits while a muncipal [facility] provides services for the lowest possible cost. ”

One district for all
“Aqua get out,” yelled one man from the audience Tuesday evening. He was given a round of applause.

Joseph Post of Merrick said he called the Town of Hempstead and “I asked if I could switch water companies. I was told no. Now I want one unified district with one rate. Otherwise it’s not fair.”

Legislator Denenberg at the afternoon hearing, and then again that evening, said, “We are entitled to equal protection under the law. Water is a necessity, not something for record profits.”

Merrick Chamber of Commerce Vice-President Randy Shotland said being a private water company customer is like having “taxation without representation.”

Dr. Robert Ackerberg of Massapequa explained that in 1991 state Senator Norman Levy introduced a bill to charter an authority [Water Authority of Southeastern Nassau County] to determine if a takeover was feasible and cheaper. But the study showed that taxes and debt would not bring down costs substantially.

North Merrick resident Claudia Borecky replied, “The Nassau County comptroller’s office did a study a few years ago that revealed we would realize a small savings at the beginning but a larger savings later on.”

Complaining about services
In addition to rate hikes, residents voiced concerns about services including water pressure, rusty water, customer service and the “bullying tactics to get me to change my meter,” said one man.

Frank Pedagno complained that when his meter was changed he was overcharged for months, and Laura Goodman of North Bellmore was angry about receiving solicitations for insurance on her pipes.

Finally, Laurie Tettenbaum inquired about the quality of the water. “The water chart is not up to date and I’m deadly afraid.”

Gerald Lynch said he would look into all these matters. “This is not a dog and pony show.”

If you’d like to weigh in on the proposed increase you may write to: Hon. Jaclyn A Brilling; Public Service Commission; Three Empire State Plaza; Albany, N.Y. 12223-1350 e-mail secretary@dps.state.ny.us or call 800-335-2120.

Friday, June 12, 2009