Unhappiness with a sewer tax imposed on numerous local homeowners has been mostly confined, so far, to residents of Roslyn Heights. Now, a civic association in the Village of East Hills is getting involved in the campaign to have the sewer tax repealed.

Members of the United Civic Associations have learned that the same sewer tax has been imposed on East Hills homeowners south of Harbor Hills Road.

According to Carmen Krauss, president of United Civic, residents in Norgate, Red Ground, Strathmore, Fairfield Park, Cantebury, Westwood, Potters Lane, and the Woodhollow Road area are paying taxes for a Disposal Plant that does not serve their neighborhoods.

The areas in question are part of Nassau County Sewer District #3, the same one that certain residents of Roslyn Heights belong to. For East Hills homeowners, the current dilemma is part of a development that began back in 1974.

That year, Urban Renewal Projects near the Roslyn Railroad Station were set to be constructed. According to Ms. Krauss, sewers were needed for the new development and were planned for the entire area, including the Heights, East Park, and East Hills Village.

However, residents of East Hills objected to the high costs the project entailed. They held a referendum to oppose the planned sewer construction. They did agree to subsidize the Urban Renewal Project.

As it turned out, East Hills residents ended up paying the sewer tax they had voted against. Also in 1974, an "unwritten agreement" between then-East Hills Mayor William Fleisher and then-North Hempstead Town Supervisor Michael Tully imposed sewer taxes on East Hills homeowners south of Harbor Hills Road.

According to Ms. Krauss, those residents pay between $20 to $40 per year in an Urban Renewal tax. However, the sewer tax, for a Disposal Plant on the South Shore, comes out to $300 a year or more.

Opposition to the sewer tax in Roslyn Heights has already forced lawmakers in Albany to consider legislation repealing that tax. A bill for the Nassau County Sewer Authority is about to be introduced in the New York State Legislature. Ms. Krauss said that bill may contain a clause to remove the East Hills neighborhoods in question from both the current Sewer District Map and the Sewer Authority Map.

Craig Johnson, the Nassau County Legislator, who represents the East Hills area, has recommended that civic association members write to both State Senator Michael Balboni and State Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli, urging them to remove East Hills from both sewer maps and as Ms. Krauss put it, to "put an end to this unfair and unrepresentative tax."

Ms. Krauss has noted that civic associations in Roslyn Heights have already garnered close to 1,200 petitions, one for Balboni and one for DiNapoli, from local homeowners. She is asking that East Hills residents do the same. Petitions are available on the Village of East Hills website, at www.villageofeasthills.org, under the "news items" link.

Last year, the sewer tax became an issue for Roslyn Heights residents. When civic association leaders pointed out the tax to Nassau County officials, they were told that the treatment and disposal of sanitary sewage generated within Sewage Disposal District III provides a "mutual benefit to all county residents" mainly by "maintaining the quality of the groundwater and surface waters."

At the same time, officials with the Department of Public Works said that they intended to begin re-evaluating the collection and disposal district boundaries, all in an effort to reduce the yearly costs for administrating and operating the three Sewage Disposal Districts and the 27 Sewage Collection Districts. The department had hoped to develop such a plan by the beginning of this year. However, legislation that would repeal the sewer tax is foremost in importance to members of local civic associations.