In their second day of public hearings on Long Island, the Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness, established by Governor Eliot Spitzer, heard a laundry list of suggestions for cutting excessive governmental costs that ran the gamut: from eliminating the town level of government, to eliminating villages, to holding all special district elections on a universal day, to forcing very small fire districts to merge with larger ones, to providing tax incentives in recruitment and retention measures for volunteer firefighters, to repeal of the Wicks law, to ending the practice of paying fees to special district commissioners, to helping school districts negotiate less generous pay and benefits packages with their unions, to making tax bills more transparent.

What came across in the long day of testimonies from public officials and citizens was that there are no "easy fixes," that all special districts are "not created equal," and that any hastily constructed "broad-brush corrections" may well end up with even worse "unintended consequences."

State Senator Craig Johnson made the point to his fellow commissioners, after Nassau County tax assessor Harvey Levinson criticized the money spent in Port Washington for their own police district, that sometimes special districts provide "a level of service and a feeling of comfort" that residents want and are willing to fund. He said, "We need to determine the hard facts first...are suggestions going to save homeowners $10 or $1,000?"

The commission made up of 15 members composed of public officials, academics, and business leaders, is required to submit final recommendations to the governor by April of 2008. For more information about the members of the commission, visit their website at www.nyslocalgov.org.

The first day of the hearings had focused on the costs of school districts and in a recap, testifying panel member Cary Staller, mayor of the Village of Old Field, noted that the biggest chunk of local taxes go to support public education. The bulk of school district spending, 75 to 85 percent, goes to pay for salaries and benefits. He said, "Any real effort to bring down taxes must address the cost of salaries. Bulk purchases and other similar savings won't do the job. We learned here yesterday that only 2.8 percent of the cost of a school district is for administration...so combining school districts won't do it either." Later in the day when the commission deliberated publicly, member Dr. Walter Robb, former senior vice-president of General Electric and owner of the Albany River Rats hockey team, questioned the veracity of the 2.8 percent number and staff members were directed to research the matter further.

There was a suggestion that using the BOCES model for service, the state could provide more technical assistance to school districts in future labor negotiations.

While some special districts, such as sewer and garbage districts, did not testify, water and fire district representatives were there in full force.

Speaking on behalf of the Nassau-Suffolk Water Commissioners Association, President Karl Schweitzer informed the commission that the Island's water districts maintain a distribution system of 2,377 miles of water mains with only 257 employees. Further, he stated that the cost of water on Long Island is one of the lowest in the country. The range of costs from one district to another is based on a rather simple fact of life: Some districts have had bigger cleanup costs than others because of their wells' proximity to polluters that have contaminated the aquifers. Mr. Schweitzer said that the commission should fight for the creation of an "aquifer damage assessment pool" that water districts could draw from to help in cleanup costs when there is no responsible party. He added that some polluting companies hide behind the guise of "conducting studies and playing the system with systematic delays."

He was skeptical of the suggestion pushed by county executive Tom Suozzi that Nassau County take over the water districts. He stated plainly that since the county regulates water quality through its own health department, it should not be the supplier as well simply from the standpoint of avoiding conflicts of interest. Furthermore, there is the obvious fact that Nassau County has no experience in running a public water system, he said.

Nassau County Comptroller and commission member Howard Weitzman stated unequivocally that he has never called for the consolidation of water districts; rather he has suggested that they take advantage of the county's lab for testing. Mr. Schweitzer responded that water districts have tried to follow the suggestion, but the county lab cannot handle the volume of additional tests yet.

According to Mr. Schweitzer and other water providers who followed him, a county take-over would be an expensive endeavor considering the costs of integrating control systems, customer database systems, hydraulic/distribution systems. They pointed out that the creation of LIPA has not lowered electric rates as was promised. One water district superintendent said, "If you really want to help us lower costs, do something about our electric rates!"

Mr. Schweitzer told the commission that the bottom line is that "every dollar paid in water rates and water district real property taxes is dedicated to capital improvements and to the operation and maintenance of the local water district. It does not go into a general county fund where it can be diverted for other needs or programs that are not as critical as the water supply."

Michael Uhl, who once served on the Hempstead Water District board, cited abuses in that district's operations saying that they misused patronage and concluded that term limits would constrict potential abuse.

Next came representatives from the fire districts.

Bill Young, counsel to the Fire Districts Association of NYS asked for the repeal of the Wicks law which requires public entities to bid out separately for electric, plumbing, and general contracting which has been estimated to cost governments 30 percent more in construction costs. He also recommended that fire departments be allowed to charge for their emergency medical services. He urged that fire districts be allowed to deposit funds in something other than commercial banks, such as credit unions. In regard to recruiting and retaining volunteers, he and others called for allowing fire fighters to opt into municipal group insurance plans.

Kerby Handley representing the Fireman's Association of the State of New York spoke on behalf of the 130,000 volunteer firefighters and EMTs pointing out that the volunteer fire and ambulance services already represent real savings to the taxpayers of New York. He said, "It is estimated that the volunteer firefighters state-wide save the taxpayers $3.9 billion and the EMTs save them $1.2 billion a year. It is an efficiency model that already exists." The concept of mutual aid, the sharing of equipment and services is "alive and well...and the extent to which it exists is underreported."

Dr. Ann Golub, project director of the Long Island Index, an organization that focuses on providing objective information to decision makers, talked about the comparison that was done by the Index between education costs and consumer satisfaction on Long Island and suburbs in Northern Virginia. According to their report, Long Islanders spend 43 percent more per pupil than schools districts in Northern Virginia. Teacher-student ratios are essentially about the same. The other measure the Index took was the satisfaction of residents in their respective educational systems. It appears that 52 percent of those surveyed in Virginia trusted the responsiveness of their school boards as compared to a 43 percent satisfaction rate of Long Islanders. It did not appear in the report, available at the Index website, www.longislandindex.org, that there was an analysis of outcomes in student scoring on standardized tests, graduation rates, college entry information or employment rates after graduation.

The Index summed up their findings by saying that smaller school districts are more expensive to operate than larger ones. They took no specific position on issues facing the commission as they see themselves solely as fact finders.

Jackie Thrasher, representing the Nassau Library System, said that the system provides for shared services for participating libraries, but has been hampered in expanding services because there has been no increase in state funding in 10 years. She pointed out that innuendos about "out-of-control special districts" are unfair to libraries whose trustees are not financially compensated and who are accountable to and elected by their community's residents.

One of the more dramatic presentations was from residents in Suffolk County who live in a tiny fire district that costs homeowners extremely high rates, up to $2,000 for fire service. Efforts to push the district to merge with larger adjacent fire districts have so far been unsuccessful. In 2006, residents presented a petition with 700 signatures to the Town of Brookhaven which rejected it. The Commission chairperson, Stan Lundine, asked staff to seek a response from the town on the matter. For more information on the Gordon Heights controversy, go to their website at www.ghfdtax.com.

Laura Mallay from Residents for Efficient Special Districts became involved in founding the organization because of her dismay at the difference in the cost of her special district garbage tax as compared to her neighbors who were served by the town's garbage collection service. Her tax for garbage collection was well over $500 while families around the corner served by the Town of Hempstead sanitation collection service were paying $239 per year. The organization emphasizes teaching citizens to be savvy about understanding their tax bills. For more information about the work of this group, visit www.resd.info.

Great Neck Park District commissioner Ruth Tamarin, along with some Great Neck residents, spoke in defense of the work of the district and their opposition to any county interference with the operations of the park district, which has its budget and bonding approved through the Town of North Hempstead. After the meeting, Comptroller Howard Weitzman spoke with the Great Neck Record and gave this statement: "These hearings are a breath of fresh air to the citizens of Long Island who are in hope of tax relief through more efficient government. I understand the concern of residents of the Great Neck Park District of any possibility of change to district operations. Other than discussions of transparency and accountability covering all special districts, I am not aware of any discussions in the county or commission levels concerning consolidation of the GNPD. Clearly, I would be opposed to any such attempt."

The public is encouraged to submit suggestions directly to the commission via email at localgov@empire.state.ny.us or via snail mail to 30 South Pearl Street, Albany, NY 12245. The commission's website is www.nyslocalgov.org.