06-05-2007

Mineola, N.Y. – In an effort to reduce the property tax burden on county residents, Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi today challenged top consulting firms to come up with a detailed blueprint to reduce the size of government by consolidating functions of local government entities.

“While Nassau is the only county in New York State that has not increased the county portion of property taxes for four consecutive years,” Suozzi said, “Nassau residents are crying out for property tax relief. We are looking for a detailed blueprint that will point the way toward consolidation of government functions. At the end of this process, we should be able to say, ‘If we consolidate these entities, it will save you X dollars and your services will either remain as good as they are now or improve.”

The Nassau County Legislature has approved an allocation of $500,000 from the 2006 surplus to develop the blueprint for government consolidation. The County has also received a $250,000 matching grant from the Hagedorn Foundation to support this effort.

Various reports indicate that Nassau County has hundreds of special taxing districts, with countless other local governments duplicating a multitude of services. As part of his State of the County address earlier this year, Suozzi pledged to make government consolidation one of the top priorities of his remaining time in office. Governor Spitzer also has called for consolidation of government across the state.

Nassau County will now be issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to provide a cost-benefit analysis, feasibility study and implementation plan for the consolidation of government services currently provided by multiple government and non-governmental entities, including special districts and private companies. The RFP will examine six distinct service areas in Nassau County, including:

“There are so many convoluted, conflicting, confusing, confounding taxing districts that it’s hard to know exactly how many there actually are,” Suozzi said. “For years I’ve been talking about the need to stop the duplication of services. But really, the worst and most costly overlapping duplication of services is the insidious maze of hundreds of special taxing districts that pile on to the property tax burden of Nassau homeowners.

“For example, we have 70 sewer and sewage related districts, 26 commission-run water districts, nine town water districts, seven village water districts, two city water districts, three water pollution control districts, a water supply district and 31 communities served by private water companies,” Suozzi said. “We have 74 garbage collection entities, 27 park operators, 56 school districts and 54 other districts including a sidewalk improvement district and the famous Memorial Day parade district.”

Special districts sprang up decades ago, when Nassau’s population was sparse and local budgets were small. Though Nassau County has become highly developed, the archaic hodge-podge system remains firmly entrenched. The separate districts, with their own staff and duplication of responsibilities, foster less oversight and cost county residents millions each year in unnecessary taxes.

Suozzi last week urged 17 local sewer and sewage treatment districts to work with Nassau County to complete a county-wide sewer and storm water master plan – and ultimately work toward consolidation of all Nassau County’s sewer and sewer treatment services into one county-wide system.

“Any effort to reduce costs by consolidating governments must also preserve what we love about suburbia,” Suozzi said. “We want to preserve home rule and local zoning control. We want to maintain close-to-home government and protect the suburban character of our communities and neighborhoods.”

Suozzi Announces Competition for Blueprint to Reduce the Size of Local Government

-- Seeks Proposals to Develop Game Plan to Save County Taxpayers Millions by Reducing Overlapping Functions Among Hundreds of Government Entities