Friday, 20 November 2009 00:00

‘The Devilish Details’ of New Law for Village Dissolution

The sponsors call it, the Empowerment Act for short, but local governments are calling it, the Disenfranchisement Act because the sweeping legislation passed this June, going into effect in March 2010, requires voters to vote to dissolve or consolidate local government before they know whether such actions would save money, or not.

“There’s a lot of confusion about the Act and it’s up to you to educate your residents so they’ll know that signing a petition for dissolution sets into motion a complicated, expensive process where the cart is before the horse,” said Wade Beltramo, special counsel for the New York State Conference of Mayors (NYCOM) to a roomful of mayors and village officials from Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester Counties at a NYCOM meeting held at Mineola High School on Oct. 29. Beltramo spent the evening giving a quick course in the new act, which is summarized below.

Friday, 20 November 2009 00:00

If you didn’t know about the tax on payroll to help fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, you do now. The payroll tax has come due Nov. 2 with business owners and municipalities and school districts having to fork over 34 cents for every $100 of payroll. The tax affects all businesses and municipalities including school districts, nonprofit organizations that have a payroll and hospitals within the areas that are serviced by the MTA including Nassau County.

“This is a very unfair tax that will increase the burden on local employers. It is not right for Long Island businesses to be required to pay the same tax rate as a business in New York City. This tax will be a determent to the local economy and inhibit the creation of new jobs, ” said Assemblyman Tom McKevitt, who represents Mineola in the State Assembly and voted against the MTA bailout that included the payroll tax.

Friday, 20 November 2009 00:00

Revolution Tops New Hyde Park

On Halloween, the Boys U10 Mineola Revolution bounced back after a gut wrenching loss to Hempstead the prior week by winning a hard fought battle with New Hyde Park, 1-0.  Mineola’s defense was solid all game long, thanks to the efforts of Christian Cucinella, Kevin Roach and Philip Periera.  While the Revolution’s solid defensive efforts kept New Hyde Park off the scoreboard, Johnny McMahon provided the game winning score off a perfect feed from Christopher Shannon.

Friday, 20 November 2009 00:00

8-Year-Olds Top Raiders

The Chiefs 8-year-olds won a tight one 19-18 this past Sunday at home over the East Rockaway Raiders. The Chiefs are now playoff bound as this victory brings their winning record to 8-1 for the season.

The Chiefs’ offense controlled the ball with great blocking by the offensive line centered by Michael LaGinestra and anchored by Kevin Parente, Michael Sinisi, Joe Martello, Andrew Cho, with tight ends Jason Eccher and Lance Costa. Key runs by running backs Thomas Albig, Jack Duff, Andrew Casoria and Michael O’Connell helped the Chiefs’ offense control the ball, along with first time starting quarterback Matt Sluka.