Supervisor May Newburger presented her Tentative Budget for 2002 on Sept. 30. At the Oct. 16 meeting of the Town Board of North Hempstead that budget, with five amendments, was accepted and therefore became the Preliminary Budget. A budget hearing will be held on Nov. 7. Councilman James O'Connor objected to the fact that the budget hearing will not be held until after election, warning the supervisor, "You do it at your own peril."

The budget calls for a 5.94 percent increase in the General Town Tax. This increase will add just $5.76 to the tax bill of an average homeowner whose property is assessed at $7500. The budget also recommends a 5.9 percent increase (or $22.14 for the average unincorporated area homeowner) in the size of the highway fund property tax levy.

In a general discussion of the proposed budget at the board meeting, Arthur Gianelli, director of operations for North Hempstead, offered five amendments, which he said were necessitated by the attack on Sept. 11 of the World Trade Center. Mr. Gianelli said that as a result of the Sept. 11 tragedy, sales tax revenues were expected to drop and the amendment reflects that. He balanced that by predicting an increase in the mortgage tax revenues, based upon the fact that mortgage rates have dropped. Councilman O'Connor said that he agrees with the sales tax prediction but disagrees with the mortgage tax prediction. "Neither of us is an economist," he said to Mr. Gianelli, "but airlines, insurance and tourism have been affected. How can we expect the housing market not to be impacted?" Mr. Gianelli replied that there has not been a drop in housing values in North Hempstead and that the data does not support Mr. O'Connor's predictions. The amendment was approved on party lines, with Supervisor Newburger and Council members Doreen Banks and Anthony D'Urso voting to approve and Councilmen Angelo Ferrara and O'Connor voting no. Three following amendments were approved unanimously but the resolution to adopt the Tentative Budget and hold a public hearing on Nov. 7 was again passed on party lines.

According to the supervisor's message about the Tentative Budget, there are three principal reasons for the tax increase. First is the erosion of the Town's commercial assessments. In the 2000 budget, the Town's commercial assessed valuation was $286,104,791. In fiscal year 2002, this figure dropped to $273,886,207, attributable to ongoing challenges to Nassau County's "fundamentally flawed property tax assessment system." The second reason is the Town's transition away from the use of New York State assistance to offset debt service expenditures related to the environmental and recreational projects undertaken since 1994. Last year the Town exhausted its assistance for the State-mandated capping and closure of the Landfill. The fiscal year 2002 budget must accommodate more than $900,000 in annual debt service for the State-mandated construction of the Town transfer station. Third, the 2002 budget includes an appropriation to cover the Town's initial debt service payment for the Sumitomo judgment. In May of 2001 the town board unanimously approved a $33.25 million bond authorization to finance the cost of this judgment. The Sumitomo litigation is named for the bank whose investors had backed the town's contract with a failed waste management organization. Mrs. Newburger continues to maintain that North Hempstead acted responsibly in this solid waste crisis although her Republican critics have vociferously disagreed.

The budget will be the hot topic during the election campaign, although at the Oct. 16 meeting it was Councilman O'Connor and Mr. Gianelli who discussed the issues, rather than the candidates for North Hempstead supervisor, incumbent Democrat May Newburger and challenger Republican Angelo Ferrara.