Rockville Centre letters for week of Dec. 23 - Dec. 29, 2010

Broken promises

To the Editor:

When he was elected last year, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano promised no tax increases. The County Legislature’s presiding officer, Peter Schmitt, pledged no tax increases and no fee increases. It took them less than nine months to break their promises. In the 2011 county budget, which I and my Democratic colleagues opposed, the Republican leadership imposed record tax and fee increases on Nassau County residents.

And, after the budget passed, Moody’s downgraded the county’s bond rating for the first time in 10 years.

Some of the lowlights of the $100 million-plus tax and $65 million-plus fee increases imposed upon county taxpayers include:

Park fees: $2.5 million. Nickerson Beach cabana fees increased by $1,300, summer recreation programs increased by $300 to $750 per child, ball field permits increased by more than 100 percent, rifle range fees increased by 44 percent, batting cage tokens and mini-golf fees increased by 65 percent and golf fees increased by 10 percent.

Toilet tax: $38 million. Charges towns, villages, schools, hospitals and all not-for-profits 1 cent per gallon of water used.

Traffic and parking violations: $7 million. $15 surcharge on red-light camera violations.

Home alarm permits: $1.7 million. Permit renewals reduced from three years to two, with a fee increase of 75 percent. New permit application fee increased by 11 percent.

Ambulance fees: $8 million. Basic life support transport service increased by $549 (120 percent), advanced life support transport service increased by $649 (120 percent), advanced life support II transport service increased by $599 (115 percent), mileage fees increased by 150 percent.

County clerk fees: $8 million. Refinance and home sale fees increased by 700 percent.

Elimination of county guaranty: $80 million. According to this 60-year-old law, the county pays for tax refunds when property owners successfully challenge their county property assessments. It forces towns, villages, schools, libraries and fire departments to pay more than $80 million in annual tax refunds due to county property assessment errors and failures.

The 2011 budget increases spending and relies on borrowing and risks. I voted no on the Republican budget and warned of the bond rating downgrades. And now Mr. Mangano wants to raise Nassau’s sales tax. More broken promises!

Joseph Scannell

Nassau County Legislator, 5th District

Setting the record straight

To the Editor:

Recently, Nassau County superintendents of schools received literature from County Executive Ed Mangano regarding his 2011 “No Property Tax Increase Budget.” As part of this proposed budget, county legislators voted, strictly along party lines, to shift the financial expense of paying county assessment errors from Nassau County to the local school districts. We certainly agree that the assessment system is broken; however, shifting the responsibility to the school districts will not help fix it.

Mangano’s assertion that this change in practice is not going to cost the school districts any money until 2013-14 is inaccurate. Superintendents and their boards of education must begin now, wherever possible, to set aside money in their reserves in anticipation of paying out refunds in 2013-14. For the past four months we have repeatedly asked the county executive for each district’s costs so we can appropriately plan for this new liability, yet we have received no response. School districts cannot wait until the 2013-14 school year to start worrying about where they will get the money to refund taxpayers for Nassau County’s assessment errors.

Mangano has also invited county school districts to join him to explore ways in which to save money through cooperative purchasing. What he fails to mention is that this idea was initiated years ago by the previous county executive, Thomas Suozzi, after consultation with the Nassau County Council of School Superintendents, and that purchasing cooperatives have been established and continue to grow to save money.

Finally, Mangano recently sent an invitation to school districts to join the Long Island Purchasing Council, and he states that several districts have indicated that they would like to join this group. This statement is false. These school districts have not joined this group and, in fact, most of our school districts have been advised by their own attorneys, because of questions of legality, that participation in the LIPC will subject districts to significant restrictions that would not be beneficial.

County superintendents and boards of education will continue to look for cost-saving measures while continuing to provide our children with the education they need and deserve. We look forward to engaging in a frank and honest dialogue to achieve our goal of continuing to provide our children with a quality education while maintaining a fiscally responsible budget.

Dr. Ranier W. Melucci

Melucci is superintendent of schools in the Merrick School District and president of the Nassau County Council of School Superintendents.