Bethpage-Tribune_1966-11-17

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BETHPAGE- #"•1•. Bo EuTi nHrPMAoGcE,, Nn..Yi..
^dhpa()C(irribMn t
Serving Bethpage - Old Bethpage - Island Trees - Plainedge - Seaford
VOL, 1 NO* 7 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1966 10< per copy
Petito Asks Across-The-Board pa«n Pacoc Pinoc
Increases For Nassau Police WS0 WSeS " ^
The Chairman of the Standing
Committee on Public Safety for
the County Board of Supervisors,
Oyster Bay Supervisor Michael
N. Petito, has submitted recom­mendations
to County Executive
Eugene H. Nickerson requesting
across-the-board s a l a r y
increases for all personnel of
the County Police Department.
Petito repeated his position that
the salaries and fringe benefits
of Nassau policemen hfust'be
moved up to "a comparable level
with the New York City Police
Department."
In his recommendation, Petito
stated: "It's essential that we
maintain the current high level
of performance by our County
Police and insure all our resi­dents
of e x c e l l e n t police
protection. The increases in
salary and benefits I am re­commending
will not only main­tain
the general morale of the
Department, but will also im­prove
Nassau's c o m p e t i t i ve
position in bidding for qualified
young men and women who will
seek jobs with our County Police
Department in the future."
Petito also revealed that he
will support a request that a
helicopter be purchased by the
.County Tor use-„by the PolieeJJe- •-
partment In pursuing criminals,
patrolling e x t e n s i v e County
Waterfront areas and generally
add to a more effective method
of Combatting crime in the
County.
In the recommendations to be
given to the County Executive,
Petito said the current starting
salary of Nassau County Patrol­men
is $6,951 per year while
TOB ADOPTS HOLD-THE-
TAX-LINE BUDGET
The Town Board majority
adopted a general Town admin­istrative
budget of $5,703,553,
setting a hold-theline tax rate
of 16.2c per $100 of assessed
valuation, one mill less than the
previous year's rate, after an
in-depth analysis of Supervisor
Petito's budget revealed that he
bad left out more than a half
million dollars in funds required
by law, Board Majority Leader
Edward J. Poulos announced
today.
The fiscal errors in Petito's
budget,uncovered by Comptroller
Joseph Macedonio and restored
by the majority, included $156,-
000 in payments required by law
and due in 1967 on bond notes.
P e t i t o ' s budget also failed to
include mandated funds totalling
more than $158,000 for hospital­ization,
social security and Town
employees' retirement benefits.
The State Motor Vehicle Law
mandating the raising of traffic
control "Stop" signs to a height
of six feet-calling for an ex­penditure
of $13,000 was also
restored to the budget after Petito
failed to make provision for this
item. Petito's budget also failed
to include $40,000 to cover
salaries for employees already
working and for the purchase of
equipment and personnel to oper­ate
the equipment to improve
north and south shores beaches.
The Town was also exposed to
complete tie-ups should heavy
snowfalls occur this winter by the
failure of Petito to provide $189,
644 for snow removal under the
mandate by the State based on the
previous five years'average snow
removal" expense. Other serious
fiscal discrepancies that would
have killed previously planned
Town improvement programs
also had to be corrected in
Petito's budget.
"The Board found it necessary
to restore these funds" the Ma­jority
Leader said, "to guaran­tee
Town residents that essential
services would be continued and
to enable us to have the funds
available to meet A$67 payments
required by law. Had we not
corrected the. Supervisor's
errors the Town would have had to
borrow money in 1967 and pay
unnecessary interest rates on this
money at additional costs to the
taxpayers. The budget adopted
by the Board majority is a real­istic
budget which takes into
consideration homeowners
needs for the coming year."
Poulos also pointed out that
Petito had sought certification
of his budget by the Supreme
Court. The court agreed with the
majority's stand, noting that the
Board had the right to change
the budget. A further appeal by
Petito to the Appellate Division
resulted in a unanimous decision
(5 to 0) in favor of the Board
majority.
Prior to his suit, Petito was
aware that the State Comptroller,
New York State Attorney General
and the State Commissioner of
the Office of Local Government
handed down decisions upholding
the majority's right to correct
the budget. Petito also sued
to prevent the Town Board from
expending $9800 for a pilot re­creation
program for handi­capped
children to be started in
. the Plainview-Old Bethpage
School District. He also lost
this lawsuit.
The adopted gross budget is
$5,703,553. The net budget is
$4,536,550 with $1,167,000 to be
raised, by taxation, setting a Town
administrative tax of 16.2c per
$100 of assessed valuation. The
highway budget is $4,446,258,
setting a highway tax of 56.3
per $100 of assessed valuation.
" Had Supervisor Petito worked
with Town Board members and
the experienced budget-makers
of Comptroller Joseph Macedon-io's
staff, the errors in his
budget would never have
occurred," Poulos declared.
Poulos noted that the Board
did not have sufficient time to
study the estimates of antici­pated
revenue in the Super­visors^
budget. He said this
was due to the fact that the
Board received Petito's budget
only a few hours before the time
required by law to file the budget
with the Town Clerk. He warned
New York City Patrolmen start
at $7,328. After five y e a rs
service, Nassau Patrolmen cur­rently
earn $8,581 as compared
to $8,840 for New York City
Police.
In addition to improved salary
levels, the Nassau Police would
also acquire increased hospital­ization
and uniform benefits 11
paid holidays, bringing them on a
virtualprwith policemen in the,
"City of New York.
Added Petito: "The adjust­ments
I will recommend are
needed to enable our Police De­partment
to meet increases in the
cost of living. Also, we cannot
permit our experienced police of­ficers
to leave for other police
departments where there are
wider benefits. Nassau County
must preserve its competitive
position in this area."
Grover
Reports
. Congressman Jariies R. Grover
J r . , of BabylOn said this week that
one of the first pieces of legisla­tion
which he will introduce in
January will call for continuation
and expansion of the national
cemetery system. Congressman
Grover has been fighting for sev­eral
years to reverse a little-known
administration plan to
phase out the national cemetery
system, thus denying veterans
and their families the privilege
of burial in ground preserved by
the U.S. government.
Grover revealed his plans in a
speech delivered at Veterans Day
ceremonies at Argyle Park,
Babylon. He said, the legisla­tion
would call "for establish­ment
of a Study Committee ex­pressing
the sense of Congress
that national cemeteries should
be continued and expanded."
The Congressman has esti­mated
that, should the federal
policy of phasing out cemetery
operations be continued, Long
Island National Cemetery at
Pinelawn would be closed, down
by 1974 or earlier. This quietly-
- implemented federal policy went
into effect in 1962. It was the r e ­sult
of a carefully-concealed ex­ecutive
order. Mr. Grover re­vealed
the situation soon after
the order went into effect and has
been battling for a reversal of
policy. He appealed to the Pres­ident
in a letter last July to cancel
the phaseout "in tribute to the
valor of our servicemen today
and the contributions of our vet­erans
of aU wars." The Babylon
lawmaker has received the sup­port
of major veterans groups in
his campaign. Meanwhile, sev­eral
federal cemeteries have
already been closed and others
are rapidly reaching capacity.
that an error by Petito in an­ticipating
revenue could result
in a serious fiscal problem for
the Town. "It was impossible
in the time allotted to review
this section ® the budget,"
Poulos said, "and the Supervisor
must bear the responsibility for
any errors he had made in his
estimates of revenue (income)
in 1967.
Hempstead Town Presiding Supervisor Ralph
G. Caso (left) and Building Commissioner Mattkiew
Busso chebk weights of shortweighted pipe and
fitting', which a r e among 6 O pieces of pipe aaiapfiags
collected from construction sites .and plumbing
supply houses throughout the town after Caso r e ­vealed
what he called "possibly fraudulent prac­tices
in the plumbing supply industry." Caso has
called for a nationwide investigation of possible
use of shortweighted pipes, a situation which could
result in the loss of millions of dollars to the public.
Detailed reports of the town's investigation have
gone out to attorneys general in all 50 states, the
District Attorneys in Nassau and Suffolk and to the
U. S. Attorney General.
The existence Of shortweighted
and illegibly marked pipe at buil­ding
sites and in supply houses
in the town was disclosed last
Monday. Caso revealed that town
building inspectors had spot
checked job sites and supply
houses and found that one of every
three pieces of soil pipe checked
at random was shortweighted.
Hempstead Town PresidingSu-pervisor
Ralph G. Caso today
called on plumbing supply houses
and plumbing contractors to co­operate
with the town's efforts
to halt the use of shortweighted
pipe. • . •. , •
Caso urged that the supply
houses and contractors weigh
every piece of pipe they have on
hand to be certain the pipe meets
U.S. Commerce Department spe­cifications
before it is installed
in buildings.
"This cooperation is vital,"
Caso said, "since it would be
physically impossible for the town
to police every building site within
its jurisdiction."
Because the pipe manufac­turers
involved ship their pro­ducts
to all parts of the country
Caso called on the U.S. Attorney
General, the attorneys general of
all 50 states and the Nassau
County District Attorney to look
into the situation.
Should Pony Express,
Railroad Be Halted
Near Yonder Pass?
Ponies and a railroad were
the matters at issue at a meet­ing
of the Oyster Bay Town Board
on Tuesday.
Happyland', the children's
amusement center at Hempstead
Turnpike and Hicksville Road,
wants to maintain a pony ride and
operate a children's miniature
railroad, there, in addition to its
carousel and wide .assortment
of other rides that delight young­sters
throughout the year.
John Kellermann of 15 Keaths
Road, Bethpage, doesn't want to
see the additions. He told the
Board that he and 17 other home
owners feel it would lower prop­erty
values in the area. Happy-land's
owner, through his at­torney,
J. Tarnow, said the train
rides would be electric and noise­less
and that the ponies would be
housed away from the amusement
center in a regular stable, as they
are now, and would be brought
there daily. He added that, since
purchasing Happyland, he had
kept it clean, improved its ap­pearance
and employed special
police to keep undesirables away.
The Board reserved decision.