Bethpage-Tribune_1975-11-20

              BETHEL *ETHPACE
8ETHPAGE LIB
47 POWELL AV
BETHPAGE NY I 1714
OLD BETHIKGE
also serving ISLAND TREES
PLAINVIEW PLAINEDGE SEAFORD
VOL. 9 NO. 52 Thursday, November 20, 1975 10 cents per copy
Plainview Civic
Group Oppose
Med Expansion
The Greater Plainview
Community Association has
announced its opposition to plans
by Ommek Realty Company to
expand the use of the Medical
Building at 1181 Old Country
Road (east of the Old Wald-baum's
Shopping Center).
Ommek has petitioned the
Town Board for a modification of
current restrictions on the use of
the Building. They want ta rent
space to "medically related
facilities" such as pharmacies
and additional medical offices in
the basement, and their current
permit prohibits them from doing
so. A Town Board hearing on the
Ommek petition is scheduled for
Tuesday, November 25 at 10:00
AM.
GPCA is strongly opposed to
this petition. Current restrictions
on the use of the Building were
imposed by the Town Board six
years ago, at GPCA's request, in
order to avoid the intolerable
traffic situation that would have
resulted from unrestricted use of
the Building. "Lifting those
restrictions now," notes GPCA
President Paul Eisenstein,
"would create a tremendous
traffic problem in an area where
the traffic situation is already
bad enough."
Eisenstein reported that local
residents are united in opposition
to the Ommek petition - both in
the area north of Old Country
Road (Cranford Road, Bradford
Road, Ramsey Road, Roundtree
Drive) and in the area south of
Old Country Road (Palo Alto
Drive, Miriam Lane, Begas
Court).
GPCA will speak in opposition
to the petition at the November 25
Town Board hearing, and urges
individual area residents to
speak out as well.
In other actions at its
November 12 meeting, GPCA
heard a progress report on the
Morton Village Shopping Center
Beautification effort (Morton
Village Realty Co. has agreed to
install waste baskets), and a
report on traffic safety efforts. A
complaint from GPCA members
in the Bentley Road / South
Oyster Bay Road area was also
noted. They are disturbed about
the back of the Midway (J.P.
Penny) Shopping Center being a
dumping ground for garbage, and
about other litter and noise
problems involving this Shopping
Center. GPCA Beaurification
Chairwoman Barbara Goldstein
will investigate the matter.
Die United Way
UNITED WAY CAMPAIGN
PROGRESS REPORT As of
October 30, 1975, Plainview has
raised 33 percent of its goal in the
1975 Fall Campaign of the United
Way of Nassau-Suffolk, it was
reported by Hon. Solomon
Newborn Chairman.
Caso Holds Line On Nassau Budget
Calls For One-Cent Sales Tax — Hard Times Ahead
Nassaut-County Executive
Ralph G. Caso this week,
proposed for 1976 a general fund
budget designed "to pull the
county out of the whirlpool of
fiscal crisis being generated by
New York City and reaffirm to
the financial community
Nassau's sound financial
position."
The proposed budget of $594.7
million calls for no increase in the
county's general fund tax rate -
marking the fourth time in the <
past five years that Caso has held
the line on the general tax paid by
all county residents.
"I am forced, however, to seek
a one-cent increase in the sales
tax for the last half of 1976,
mainly to provide for costs
mandated on us by higher levels
of government," Caso stated.
"The half year increase would
•generate an estimated $22 million
in revenue.
"In addition to establishing
fiscal integrity, my other major
objective was to hold the line on
the homeowners' general
property tax," the county
executive said.
"While no tax is popular, given
the alternative of a property tax
versus a sales tax increase, I
believe the sales tax is less
regressive," he said.
"Prohibitive property tax levels
not only retard the buying and
selling of homes and property
within the county, but invite a
whole series of economic con­sequences
that will adversely
affect our future economic
growth and development."
Caso praised the supervisors in
the Towns of Hempstead, North
Hempstead and Oyster Bay for
also holding the line on general
town tax rates.
"I am firmly convinced that if
all of us can keep expenditures
and property taxes under control,
especially during a time when we
are feeling the financial
reprecussions of our neighboring
city going bankrupt, then we will
weather the economic turmoil,"
Caso declared.
The county executive pointed
out that the county moved
quickly earlier this year to
curtail expenditures in the face of
a growing deficit. A job freeze
resulted in not filling ap­proximately
500 positions at a
saving of $5 million in gross
expenditures. Cutbacks in pur­chasing
also saved the county
$200,000.
"The 1975 deficit was the
product of events outside the
control of my administration,
such as state mandated tran­sportation
assistance and
escalating social service costs,"
Caso said. "In the proposed 1976
budget we are making the hard
administrative decisions
necessary to make up the current
deficit. We will not follow the
path which led New York City to
the tragic position it is in today."
Referring to the charac­terization
that Nassau's 1975
budget was "bare-bones," Caso
said the 1976 spending proposal
"cuts into the bone to hold down
expenses and put the county on
an even fiscal keel."
The county executive said the
following economy directives
have been incorporated into the
proposed 1976 budget:
• Elimination of tuition sub­sidies
to county residents at­tending
four-year undergraduate
schools in the New York City
University system. Residents
attending two-year community
colleges in the CUNY system
would continue to receive tuition
assistance, but in an amount no
higher than that which the county
pays for residents attending
Nassau Community College.
Projected saving: $1,250,000.
• Elimination of the ap-proximaely
500 jobs lines not
filled during the 1975 job freeze
and continuation of the job freeze
in 1976. Projected net saving:
$2,000,000.
• Replacement of 85 retiring
members of the county police
force with civilians in ad­ministrative
positions. Projected
saving: $600,000.
• Postponement of the opening
of a Westbury-New Cassel health
center in 1976. Projected saving:
$968,000.
• Transfer of all Nassau
County Medical Center
operations in Planview to the
Medical Center in East Meadow.
Department of General Services
has been directed to develop a
plan to utilize the Plainview
buildings to reduce the rental
cost of office space for other
county operations. Projected
saving: $500,000.
• Closing of all county
museums and historical sites one
day a week. Projected saving:
$250,000.
• Postponement of the opening
of Cedar Creek Park in Seaford.
.Projected saving: $200,000.
• One-year moratorium on
county contribution to the Nassau
Library System because of the
system's current surplus
position. Projected saving:
$299,000.
e Abolition of the Office of Civil
Preparedness and assignment of
its functions to the police
department. Projected saving:
$166,000.
e A 50 per cent cutback in the
amount paid for chaplain ser­vices
at various county facilities.
Projected saving: $130,000.
e Elimination of all outside
printing of departmental annual
reports and inside printing of
only those annual reports
mandated by law. Projected
saving: $200,000.
9 Termination of the Long
Beach Memorial Hospital am­bulance
subsidy. Projected
saving: $65,000.
• Reduction of certain
equipment purchases. Projected
saving: $600,000.
e Elimination of a deputy
county executive and secretary
position. Projected saving:
$60,000.
o Merger of the Environmental
Management Council into the
Health Department. The move,
which will not interrupt the en­vironmental
services currently
provided by the non-salaried
council, will result in a saving of
$80,000.
Caso also noted that his 1976
budget calls for a wage freeze.
"This is not an unrealistic
position for 1976 in view of what is
happening in New York City
where tens of thousands of
workers are being laid off and
others are agreeing to pay cuts to
save their jobs," Caso said. "A
wage freeze next year is not
asking too much of our em­ployees
who have fared very well
in the past few years."
On the revenue side, the
following decisions have been
incorporated into the proposed
1976 budget based on an analysis
of reimbursement formulas and
the existing schedule of depar­tment
fees and charges:
• The Medical Examiner's
office will be merged into the
Department of Health in order to
secure additional state aid of
$600,000.
• The Department of Health
will institute higher fee schedules
for certain inspection services.
This will increase departmental
revenues by $200,000.
• The Inwood Health Center
will be transferred to the Health
Department's jurisdiction in
order to permit increased state
reimbursement. Increased
revenue expected to total
$100,000.
e The Department of
Recreation and Parks will raise
$315,000 in additional revenue by
increasing the fee for a round of
golf by 50 cents, raising beach
parking rates to 75 cents week­days
and $1.00 weekends and
increasing cabana rental rates by
$1.50.
The county executive pointed
out that the Nassau Off-Track
Betting Corporation projects that
its operation will bring the county
$3 million in revenue in 1976.
He also noted that the county's
contribution to the operation of
the Nassau Medical Center,
which was $10.4 million in 1975,
has been reduced because of
increased revenues to $4-3 million
in 1976. The county's contribution
to the operation of the Veterans
Memorial Coliseum also has been
significantly lowered. It will be
$600,000 in 1976, compared to the
$1.1 million appropriation this
year.
In addition to state legislative
approval of a one-cent increase in
the sales tax effective the last
half of 1976, Caso said he intends
to ask for a 2 per cent county levy
on motel and hotel rooms to bring
in approximately $100,000 in
revenue. He said he also is
contemplating a tax on pinball
machines in the county as an
added source of revenue.
State legislation also will be
sought to limit the mandated
amount counties have to pay for
residents attending community
colleges in the State University'
system to that amount which the
county pays for its own com­munity
college students. Such
legislation would save Nassau
County approximately $1.5
million a year.
Under the existing law, for
example, Nassau County is
required to pay as high as $2,120 a
year plus a $300 yearly capital
charge per student for the more
than 1,300 county residents at­tending
the 29 community
colleges in the state system.
The proposed $594.7 million
general fund budget for 1976
represents a 12.2 per cent growth
over the 1975 budgeted level of
$530.1 million. This is in contrast
to the 18.4 per cent growth in the
1975 general fund budget.
In analyzing the basic causes
behind the growth in 1976 ex­penditures,
the following specific
items stand out:
o A growth of $30.5 million in
federal and state mandated
social welfare costs, including
Medicaid services.
o An anticipated rise of $5.5
million in utility, material and
supply costs due to inflation.
o State mandated tran­sportation
subsidy of $7.9 million.
o A $15 million deficit in the
1975 general fund.
As proposed, the 1976 general
fund property tax rate will
remain at $4.95 per $100 of
assessed valuation.
Based on the provisions of the
State Sales Tax Law which
dictates the distribution of a
portion of county sales tax
revenues to the towns and the
City of Glen Cove, the following
will be the effective 1976 property
tax rates in those jurisdictions:
Hempstead Town, $4.58 per $100;
North Hempstead Town, $4.58 per
$100; Oyster Bay Town, $4,572 per >
$100 and Glen Cove, $4,631 per
$100.
Because the City of Long Beach
receives its portion of the sales
tax revenue directly from
Albany, its general fund property
tax rate will be $4.95 per $100 in
1976.
Besides the general fund tax
rate, ail county residents fund the
community college and the
mandated state court steno fund.
The college budget, already
passed bv the Board of Super­visors,
had a rate increase of 1.8
cents. The court expense fund
necessitates a 2 mil increase.
The 1976 police district tax
rate, paid by approximately 75
per cent of the county's residents,
{Continued on Page 11)