North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman reaffirmed the town's strong municipal finances and announced several new townwide initiatives during his fifth annual State of the Town Address at the George Washington Manor in Roslyn last week. The event, which is hosted annually by the League of Woman Voters of Port Washington-Manhasset, marks the start of Kaiman's third term as town supervisor.

"The finances in the Town of North Hempstead are in exceptional condition," Kaiman said told the crowd. "Our bond ratings remain at the highest level in town history and we once again finished the year with a surplus as we have done in each of the last four years. In fact, we actually cut the tax rate by a nominal amount for 2008 and we continue to bring in millions of dollars in grants helping us stretch our tax dollars further."

Among the new initiatives for 2007, the supervisor announced that Project Independence would be implemented townwide. Over the past two years the program has been limited to a few neighborhoods in New Hyde Park with the goal of helping seniors "age in place" so that they can live in their homes longer than they otherwise might be able to. The service includes providing service-related information and opportunities, free transportation to medical visits, social worker assistance, and community programming. In addition, the new program will be fully integrated into the town's 311 system and accessible to every senior throughout North Hempstead.

Kaiman also announced that the town would enter into partnerships with our schools, libraries and local parks to make recycling easier and more accessible. This effort will include town-sponsored recycling containers in every school, library and public park facility in North Hempstead. The town would also work with every school to create recycling programs that involve students at every level, and provide staff with the resources they need to make those programs work.

"The town will also commit to developing a plan to manage the collection of all recyclables from our partners, saving schools, libraries and parks money while ensuring that what is collected is actually recycled," Kaiman added. "And we will further expand recycling by working with our business community to ensure we are recycling as much as we can wherever we can. Working together, we will make recycling in North Hempstead more successful than it has ever been, and a model for communities everywhere."

Supervisor Kaiman's complete 2008 State of the Town Address can be read online at www.northhempstead.com.