The Village of Rockville Centre plays hardball

The Village of Rockville Centre has fired the latest salvo in what is becoming an ongoing war of words between it and the Rockville Centre school district. In a long open letter that the village Board of Trustees sent to the Herald on Monday afternoon, the village stated that if the school district insists on linking the use of school facilities to the restoration of free garbage pickup, the village will be forced to "reassess" the access it provides the schools to village sports fields and facilities.

Signed by the mayor and all of the trustees, the letter outlined the village's take on the debate with the school district thus far and detailed the trustees' positions on several issues that have come up between the two entities.

As part of a now-lapsed Cooperative Agreement between them, the school district has allowed the village to use two of its elementary schools for the village's annual summer recreation program for six weeks in July and August. In exchange, the village has permitted the school district to use village fields for its sports teams free of charge, describing that access as "extensive" in Monday's letter -— that appears in full text on the Herald's Web site.

The village contended that the Cooperative Agreement, which was forged some 20 years ago in an effort to avoid duplication of services and save taxpayer money, never stated that the school district did not have to pay for garbage pickup, and that it is the only entity in the village that does not pay for that service. The village also said that the school district's characterization of the new charge for garbage service as a "double tax" is not true, describing it as "doubletalk."

Reached on Monday afternoon, school board President Mark Masin said that the school district would have no immediate comment.

"Most village residents live in the RVC School District, but others live in the Oceanside or Baldwin school districts and pay property taxes to them," the Board of Trustees wrote. "Conversely, some residents of the RVC school district do not live in the village and so [they] pay no property taxes here."