Suozzi-Kaiman Propose Transfer of County Parks, Roads and Land to Town of North Hempstead

Mineola, New York – Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi, joined by North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman, announced today a historic deal to transfer the ownership of 9 County parks and 12 County roads to the Town of North Hempstead, a move that will save county taxpayers millions and give local control of key parks, roads and land to the Town.

The deal calls for more than 230 acres to be transferred, 26 lane miles of roadways, and two non-park Nassau County properties.

“The transfer of these parks and roadways allows us to fulfill the promise of consolidating government services while saving county taxpayers millions in road and park maintenance expenses going forward,” said Suozzi. “At the same time, the Town of North Hempstead will benefit by gaining more control over local parks, roads and land. We hope this agreement will serve as a model for how the county can work together with local towns and villages for the benefit of all taxpayers.”

“The County Executive and I took a fresh look at how our local resources should be utilized and we came up with this mutually beneficial plan,” said SupervisorKaiman.“The Town of North Hempstead will acquire responsibility over parks and roads that fit within our purview in our ordinary course of business and the county will maintain access to these resources, without having to pay to maintain them.”

As part of the agreement, Nassau County will no longer be required to resurface the 12 roads transferred, saving the County $1,756,000 in capital funds for resurfacing of other roads. Based on an average of $13,500 in operating funds that is spent annually by the Department of Public Works to maintain each lane mile, the Administration estimates that this agreement will enable DPW to reallocate approximately $337,000 in staffing resources to other services.

The County will provide $3,075,000 to the Town for the repairs and maintenance of the parks and roads. Of this amount, $1,075,000 already was appropriated in the 2007 Budget. The remaining $2 million will be derived from surplus 2006 resources and submitted to the Legislature for consideration as part of the year-end budget transfer package.

The list of roads being transferred:

The transfer of ownership of the two non-park County properties consists of the Port Washington parcel of 26 acres located on West Shore Road and a vacant non-developable lot located in New Cassel at the corner of Prospect Avenue and Swalm Street, which the Town plans to turn into a pocket park. The 26-acre parcel presently contains a 2.5 acre DPW highway garage constructed in 1986 and will be utilized both by the Town and County for weather- related conditions.

Parks that will be transferred are:

The Town is committed to a minimum investment of $5 million for further restoration of the nine park facilities. Currently, the Town of North Hempstead spends about one-third of its operating budget on parks and roads - $12 million on parks, $18 million on roads, out of a total operating budget of approximately $ 100 million.

In addition, Nassau County residents will now enjoy the same access as North Hempstead residents to Bar Beach in Port Washington, which had been separated by a fence from the County-run Hempstead Harbor Park. The County parks that are being transferred to the Town of North Hempstead will remain open to all Nassau County residents.

The Town of North Hempstead is expected to begin operating the County parks and roadways in September 2007 pending approval by the NCL. Transfer of ownership of the parks requires approval by the New York State Legislature.

Suozzi-Kaiman Propose Transfer of County Parks, Roads and Land to Town of North Hempstead

--Historic deal covering 9 County Parks and 12 County Roads will further government consolidation effort