After nearly two decades of battling to share in county sales tax revenues, members of the Nassau County Village Officials Association (NCVOA) announced a milestone victory as the Nassau County Executive's 2001 adopted budget includes sales tax sharing for villages. The NCVOA is comprised of 64 incorporated villages in Nassau County representing nearly 450,000 residents.

"While we recognize the county is grappling with its own fiscal problems, we are pleased that the county executive and the legislature have taken initial action to correct one of the most blatant injustices directed specifically against village residents in Nassau County: the inability of villages to share sales tax revenues," said Joseph Trudden, mayor of the Village of Farmingdale.

According to the county executive's office, the budget calls for $250,000 in sales tax revenues to be shared among the 64 villages. While the amount does not accurately reflect the proportion of sales tax being generated by villages and their residents, mayors of local villages nevertheless are pleased that a starting point has been established.

"For years, Nassau County villages and their residents have generated and paid millions of dollars in sales tax and received nothing in return," commented Marialyce Denauski, trustee of the Village of Farmingdale and member of the executive committee of the Nassau County Village Officials Association. "This gesture on the county's behalf recognizes there has been a gross inequity and takes the first step in correcting it. As the county's financial conditions improve, we expect the sales tax sharing to villages will increase too."