On Sept. 15 County Executive Gulotta submitted his 1999 fiscal budget to the County Legislature which, for the first time, includes a provision for the sharing of County Sales Tax revenue for our village.

This bold and courageous action by the County Executive fulfills a promise he made to the 64 villages within our county, a promise made good to our residents because of his recognition of our problems. On a number of occasions, I have sat across the bargaining table to put forth our case and in all of these instances his answers were in our interest. Mr. Gulotta has recommended that the sum of $9 million be shared by the 64 county villages. Judging by our previous formulas, and upon approval of the County Legislature, the Village of New Hyde Park would receive $201,000 annually.

It is sincerely hoped that the 19 members of the Legislature will recognize the inequities of the past regarding this issue and will find it in their wisdom to approve this item. No matter what the outcome, however, our residents should know that Tom Gulotta went to bat for us and he has my eternal thanks.

Even before I became the Mayor of New Hyde Park, this was an issue that I believed in, not only because of financial need, but because I believed it to be discriminatory against those of us who live in Incorporated Villages. For the past five years as your mayor, I have lobbied for this issue and now I can thank Tom Gulotta for his help. It is my fervent hope that I will also be able to thank our Legislature for their help.

Warren Tackenberg

Mayor to Village

Of New Hyde Park