Assemblyman Tom Alfano and State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos blasted the Article 7 language in the governor's budget proposal for a local Belmont advisory board saying it ignores the Elmont and Floral Park communities. The board, according to the language, is controlled by the following seat allocations:

2 from Community Board 13 in Queens

4 from the Nassau County Executive

3 from the Supervisor of the Town of Hempstead

3 from the Franchise Oversight Board

3 from the VLT operator

(Bill language, article 7, section 1, letter c, lines 16-22, Draft 74036-04-09)

"Where is Elmont and Floral Park on this board? The answer- forgotten! We could very well end up with an oversight board made up of people from communities without any local perspective. For years, the problem with Belmont was the fact that Elmont and Floral Park were left behind. Now it looks like it again. The fact is this is called a local advisory board. What assurances do we have that is what it will be? Right now it looks like we could get shut out. That's totally unacceptable. These communities have worked too hard throughout this process to have this happen to them," Assemblyman Alfano said.

State Senate Majority Leader Skelos added, "This is very disturbing to me. I can't believe that Elmont and Floral Park have been shut out of this board. I will be encouraging Governor Paterson to change this immediately. This cannot stand."

The governor's proposal will now go through the budget conference committee process.