After exposing abuses in numerous special sanitation districts through a series of audits his office has performed since 2004, County Comptroller Howard Weitzman is leading a crackdown in Nassau. He's proposing serious changes to the current system. Specifically, Weitzman wants to change the way garbage service is rendered to residents and is calling for the complete elimination of district commissioner salaries and benefits.

Weitzman rallied with Governor Eliot Spitzer and other local county officials at Hofstra University Feb. 8 to push forward suggested reforms of special districts. The governor is publicly backing the changes as part of his statewide "Bringing the Budget Home" tour and believes the efficiency measures demonstrate that "we are serious about reigning in unfunded mandates and out of control spending."

These proposed changes have no effect on villages, only the unincorporated areas within the Towns of Hempstead, North Hempstead and Oyster Bay.

"Many of these improvements were modeled on initiatives developed by local government officials, who have shown vision and energy in suggesting ways to streamline the delivery of services to their regions," Governor Spitzer said at the Feb. 8 press conference.

Weitzman, who spoke about special districts during a recent visit to Anton Community Newspapers, said, "Nobody dreamt that what they were paying $200 for, one of their neighbors may have been paying $500 for, or another neighbor could've been paying $1,000 for. It was literally random as to what you paid for any given service...The abuses that took place in almost every district were just incredible," Weitzman said. "The wasted money, nepotism, inflated meetings, no-bid contracts, wasted spending and benefits, what we found was absolutely outrageous. It's a hidden government that was flying underneath the radar because no one was really watching..."

Weitzman organized a conference in 2006 in which more than 400 people attended to specifically discuss the issue and later met with each sanitation commissioner to brainstorm on ways to save money within the existing system. In the end, the comptroller believed approximately $32 million could potentially be saved, primarily in the area of insurance.

Governor Spitzer took an interest in major reform to make New York State more competitive. He appointed a commission - New York State Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness - of which Comptroller Weitzman and Senator Craig Johnson were selected to represent Long Island. The commission has been meeting across New York State, discussing ways to make New York more efficient and triaging the more than 150 recommendations received.

"From my perspective, the two most controversial recommendations now included in the governor's budget are the elimination of compensation for all commissioners throughout New York State and having the towns [Towns of Hempstead, North Hempstead and Oyster Bay] take over the provision of garbage service in defined areas, which includes all of Nassau," Weitzman said.

Weitzman wants to put all sanitation district commissioners on an even playing field. Currently, commissioners get compensated for their job. This, Weitzman points out, only exists in Nassau County. "They don't get paid anywhere else," Weitzman continued, adding that state law doesn't allow fire commissioners to get paid, nor school board members and most of the village mayors and trustees. "But yet these commissioners in these special districts get paid. How did that happen?" he asked. "Nobody knows how that happened."

Because the commissioners get paid per diem, Weitzman believes this results in many meetings "in excess" throughout the year. "Some of these commissioners meet 250 times a year," he said, making it clear, however, that there are plenty of dedicated, hard working commissioners who do good work and shouldn't be lumped in this category.

"You run for office because you want to help the community; you want to do the right thing," Weitzman continued. "You're not supposed to be meeting 250 times a year...I think it's very important in terms of reforming the system and getting the people to run for office who are there for the right reasons, not people who are there to take advantage of a system that nobody is watching."

Weitzman is well aware commissioners aren't happy with the recommendations. "I know I'm getting a lot of blow back from the commissioners. I understand that some of them are very angry about it and they've said this whole thing is going to fall apart," Weitzman continued. "Well the fact is we have great schools in Nassau County and none of those people are getting paid. We have one of the most outstanding fire services in the country and those commissioners don't get paid..."

As of press time, Comptroller Weitzman's office did not yet analyze the exact savings such eliminations would provide the county.

The second recommendation is more complicated, Weitzman said. Garbage is handled very, very differently in each of the three towns, resulting in different impacts to each township.

Specifically, in the Town of Hempstead, Weitzman's audits found that millions of dollars could be saved for taxpayers. "The town has its own garbage districts, its own employees who pick up garbage, and special districts, which do the exact same thing," he said.

With a little over half of the township unincorporated, Weitzman believes these reforms could potentially save Town of Hempstead families anywhere between $100-200 over time.

"The average employee cost is $100,000 to $115,000 and many only work three to four hours a day," the comptroller pointed out. "Supervisor [Kate] Murray had told the Newsday editorial board that she knows they could do it cheaper. My question is if they could do this cheaper why aren't they?"

Hempstead Town Supervisor Murray said she's happy that government officials at the county and state levels have recognized that her township offers great services in a cost-effective manner. "If a community wants us to take over services provided by a special district we'd be happy to. However, we're not going to impose our will on a community," she said.

In the Town of Oyster Bay, which only has two special sanitation districts - one in Syosset, one of the "dirtiest" districts Weitzman said his office found as far as monies being wasted, and the other in Glenwood Landing - Weitzman said taxpayers won't see much of a change.

"They pick up 80 to 90 percent of the garbage already so the change in the Town of Oyster Bay is immaterial," the comptroller said.

According to Supervisor John Venditto, "The Town of Oyster Bay has long led the way in facilitating inter-municipal cooperation between various levels of government to help them save taxpayer dollars. All levels of government, including special districts, need to continue to explore ways to make government more effective and accountable to residents, including consolidation of services. The town will continue to offer its resources to the special districts in any way we can."

In the Town of North Hempstead, Weitzman's office found the cheapest garbage collection of all. "Outside of the villages, all the garbage is private," he said. "It's done by carters under contract with either the town districts or special districts like Port Washington."

Weitzman said Town of North Hempstead officials believe they could get better pricing if they could control all the bidding that takes place. "There may also be some changes to some of the district boundaries to make some of those districts a little more efficient so they could get better prices from the carters; some districts may be too small to get a really good price, some may be too big," Weitzman said.

"The town level of government is equipped to handle the responsibilities that would flow to the town under this new legislation. The governor is taking a bold stand, but these times call for bold actions," Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman said. "We will work with the governor, the county executive and the comptroller to ensure that all necessary services are provided at the highest level and efficiency."

For a closer look at the studies the Comptroller's Office has done on this issue, visit www.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/Comptroller/index.html.