The actions of our elected officials are at times mind-boggling. Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray, for example, seems to spend her day giving out proclamations for birthdays, anniversaries and other events that will get her picture into the community newspapers, making her the most photographed politician on Long Island.

Meanwhile, Hempstead's Receiver of Taxes, Don Clavin, gives speeches on property assessment challenges while handing out glossy multi-colored brochures prepared and printed at taxpayers' expense that appear to be thinly veiled election campaign propaganda. Clavin collects our tax money so others can spend it, but has nothing to do with assessment of homes in Hempstead or anywhere else in Nassau County.

Kate Murray, who is up for election in November, as is Clavin, blames rising property taxes on the county's recent property reassessment. The fact is that Murray contributed to higher property taxes with the 12.8 percent boost in this year's Town of Hempstead taxes.

Reassessment has had little effect on the average property tax bill; it may have shifted taxes within a district, particularly for those residents who expanded their homes without permits and had thus been underpaying their share of taxes.

But reassessment did not alter the total school tax burden which absorbs more than 65 percent of a homeowner's tax payment. School taxes have been surging an average of 8 percent per year driven by higher teachers' salaries and increases in their health care and pension costs. According to recent data, nearly 10 percent of public school teachers on

Long Island are paid more than $100,000 for a 10-month school year.

As town supervisor, Murray has the primary responsibility for closing down illegal apartments that are degrading our neighborhoods, but she appears to be oblivious to the problem. Illegal housing, particularly those owned by profiteering absentee landlords, are growing in number.

Murray should mail a brochure to residents with a message such as this: "In the Town of Hempstead you cannot allow anyone to live below grade level even if it's your relative. Basement 'apartments' are illegal and nothing can legalize them. Tenants living in basements without adequate exits face potential disaster. If your neighbor rents out his or her basement, call Kate Murray directly."

George Rand