The legislative session for the New York general assembly ended last week with some good news for local taxpayers. On the final day of the legislative calendar, both the state senate and assembly passed a bill that offers a tax abatement to certain property owners in the Roslyn area.

The legislation addresses a situation in which numerous local residents have been paying a sewer tax for services they do not receive. The bill was introduced in the upper chamber by State Senator Michael Balboni and in the lower chamber by Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli.

The bill offers an abatement for the exact amount a property owner is paying for sewer services that they do not receive. If, for instance, the sewer bill is $50, then that would be the amount of the abatement.

The entire matter of unfair sewer taxes was brought to the forefront through the work of civic associations in Roslyn Heights. Such organizations discovered that Sewer District Number Three, which many Roslyn Heights and East Hills residents pay taxes to operate, does not run through certain neighborhoods in that village. The strangely drawn district affects about 18,000 taxpayers in Nassau County, including such municipalities as Long Beach and Oyster Bay. They, too, pay taxes for sewer services that do not cover their households.

Civic associations in Roslyn Heights supported the abatement bill. But their members have also noted that the county can alleviate the tax burden by simply redrawing Nassau County's sewer districts.

Senate Rejects Sewer Authority

While the passage of the tax abatement plan was welcome news to local residents, the legislative session ended in disappointment for County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi, as that body balked at approving a Sewer and Storm Water Authority for Nassau County.

As the June 19 deadline for ending the current session approached, a compromise to save the Authority failed. According to published reports, Peter J. Schmitt, the Nassau County Legislature's minority leader, told Republican state senators that he would not support a home rule message resolution on the Authority.

Such a resolution needed a two-thirds vote in the County Legislature to pass. The resolution would have amounted to an endorsement of the Authority, in effect asking the state senate to give formal approval to the measure.

In a released statement, Suozzi blamed partisan politics for the Authority's failure.

"We are bitterly disappointed that after more than one year of debate, discussion and dialogue, Nassau's Republican State Senators have said no to Nassau County and yes to machine politics," the statement read. "There was no governmental reason left to oppose this proposal.

"But, truth be known, this was not about government; it was about politics. It was about County Legislator Peter Schmitt and the rest of the County Republican machine not willing to help solve the financial problems they caused by decades of one-party rule.

"With the rejection of the Sewer and Storm Water proposal, this administration is now confronted by another challenge. We will not allow the Republican machine to continue to obstruct Nassau's financial recovery.

"In the coming weeks, we will announce new plans to deal with the latest in a series of Republican partisan attacks," the statement concluded.

For his part, Schmitt continued his criticism of the Authority as a form of "double taxation" for county residents.

"We view the double taxation as Suozzi's attempt to cut the throat of the taxpayer and we're not going to give him the keys to the cabinet so he can get the knife," Schmitt told Anton Community Newspapers.

The Sewer and Storm Water Authority was first proposed by the county executive. In his State of the County address last winter, Suozzi said such an Authority would ease pressure on the county's general fund while achieving savings of $25 million a year for the Nassau County budget.

As the legislative session came to a close, Suozzi lobbied hard to save the Authority. He warned that without the $25 million in savings it would produce, all the county's sponsored health and human service agencies "would be in danger of losing all their county funding and might not be able to continue their organization."

Suozzi said such agencies would include Veteran's Services, Nassau's Department of Senior Citizen Affairs, the Office of the Physically Challenged, the Youth Board, and hundreds of anti-drug and Mental Health Programs.

"The failure of the senate to pass this proposal could also mean civil service layoffs," the county executive added.

Minority Leader Schmitt has opposed the Authority on several grounds. He claimed it would mean engineers, attorneys, and other personnel working for the county without legislative oversight.

In addition, Schmitt has said that the Authority would only mean a reorganization of county employees, with 136 employees being transferred from the county payroll to the Authority itself. County taxpayers, he maintained, would continue to pay both their salaries and other operating costs.

Finally, the Authority, he said, would lease or buy the county sewer lines and treatment plants. That would result in a sewage service fee, one that Schmitt said is not tax deductible, while also creating a new tax on county residents.

Despite the setback, it is still possible that the Authority may come up for a vote after the summer recess. Also according to published reports, State Senator Dean Skelos said he would support public hearings on the measure, ones that would address such issues as the Authority's powers and the costs to ratepayers. However, any compromise may come too late since the Suozzi administration must deliver a budget in September.