Rockville Centre, NY- Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi was joined by North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman, Nassau County Legislators Joe Scannell, Dave Mejias and Jeffrey Toback, as well as Rockville Centre Mayor Eugene Murray and Malverne Mayor Anthony Panzarella in promoting a plan to get Nassau County out of the road business. Standing at an intersection where Village, Town and County-owned roadways all overlap, the County Executive put forth a plan that would sharply reduce duplication and confusion in the maintenance of roads in Nassau County. The proposal would also produce millions of dollars in savings for the County.

"With State-mandated costs like Medicaid on the rise, Nassau County must continue to look for creative ways to reduce expenses. Our 64 villages, three towns and two cities all do an exceptional job at maintaining our roadways. These governments are equipped for road work and already cover the lion’s share of the roads in their respective municipalities,” said Suozzi. “At this intersection alone, three different levels of government are responsible for clearing snow and making repairs, depending on where you stand.”

“It has become a fulltime job for residents to sift through the alphabet soup of municipal jurisdictions in order to find help,” added Supervisor Kaiman. “Working with the County to allow for a single road to be under a single jurisdiction not only makes sense, but will help streamline government.”

Under County Executive Suozzi’s plan, the County would turn over the ownership and maintenance of its roads and in exchange the County would sell land to local municipalities or trade other services such as policing, sewers and park maintenance. A land transfer approved by the Nassau County Legislature yesterday would serve as a model for future agreements throughout the County. In the legislation, the Town of Oyster Bay agreed to assume nearly 10 miles of roadways from the County in Hicksville and Plainview and in return, the County sold several acres of land in East Massapequa to the Town to be developed into ball fields.

“There are more than 2,000 County-owned roads and it costs about $13,500 a year to maintain one lane mile. Our villages, towns and cities can do it at a much cheaper cost to taxpayers. The time has come for the County to get out of the road business and focus on areas where there isn’t such a large amount of overlap,” said Suozzi.

“The transfer of this land is the first major step towards the County’s move out of the road business, stated Legislator Jeff Toback (D-Oceanside). "This particular piece of legislation, unanimously approved by the Legislature, sets the precedent for all future agreements and improves the efficiency and services of all levels of government,” he added.”

The County would still maintain ownership of main County thoroughfares, such as Old Country Road and Glen Cove Road. In addition, the County’s Department of Public Works would still maintain and operate all traffic lights in the County. “Eliminating waste and duplication in government has been a top priority in my Administration, and this road transfer proposal is another step toward making County government leaner and more efficient,” concluded Suozzi.