The-Leader_1977-02-17

              FREEPORT
BALDWIN
ROOSEVELT
MERRICK
THE
LIERARIAM
NASSAU CTY-41I3.TOHICi\L litiSEUM
EISENHOWER PARK
EAST HEADOW, H "y , 1 1 5 5 4/
JbJEMJffJEJI;
FREEPORT'S
OFFICini
NEWSPAPER
41st YEAS No. 43 FREEPORT, NEW YORK. FEBRUARY 17.1977 PRICE 15t PER COPY
•r.
Fre^port Election Heats Up
IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL DAY. Human RIohts Day In Freeport, tot
' Sunday,'featured a Brotherhood Music.Festival followed by a'Brother-
^ hood supper hdnorino community worker. Ruth Hughes.: One of the
offerlnga at the afternoon nitislc festival was the iO(>volc« Combined
Choir (top photoj, conducted by Froeport School District Music Direc­tor
Kirk Dunklee.ThiB.Festival.aVOur Holy Redeemer School,.was'
attended, by about 600'peopteLand was sponsored by ^he Freeport
-BicentennialCorhrhitteelAt theiaupper, Mr»..Huahe8received several
-awards. One of them, an inscribed Revere bowl, was.prosented to her
; by the Human pelatloiia Commission. Pictured (bottom photo. I. to r.)
: are Commissiop Walter LIgon, Commission Director Michael Kirwan
-andMrs. Hughes. ., ' "" . . ' - . - '^ .^ '
/School Board Questions /
Insurance And Holds Utilities
. .• By Richard Sanders •.
- FREEPORT - At Thursday night's open budget meeting, the Board
of Education faced the problems of rising insurance and utility prices
for the year of 1977-78: An-additional,-though less controversial
proposal, was heard for next year's cultural arts expenditures.
- Increased policy rates account for. the neariy S15.000 jump inthe.
. insurance budget. —^ while' the
present outlay is $50,075; next
year's estimate is $65,000. In­cluded
in the district's insurance
program ,i£ coverage for lia­bility,
umbrella, fire, theft, auto,
"V*thletic injury and boiler damage.
Under liability and umbrella
Freeport ' receives'' $5 million
wbrth of protection. -
. While-the insurance has been
primarily handled by the William
F. Glacien Agency in Freeport
for the past 20 years. Super­intendent
"Donald Costlow re­marked
that any broker with a
good rating is free to analyze
the district's records and offer a
better price. Since Thursday
night, it has been revealed that
the gmbrella, policy yrji} be put out
for public bidding. " V
For 15 years, school insurance
has been. managed by an iii-surance.
committee.- Although
Glacken maintains the bulk of the
policies, ten other Freeport agen*
cies form an insurance pool and
receive a portion of the com­mission.
Each auxiliary broker
gets a S489 share.
At the meeting. Board presi­dent
Harold Levine said that
despite its excellent service, he
would like to see the insurance
pool broken up. Later, in a private
interview, he clarified his state­ment.
"I can't question their effi­ciency."
Levine admitted.
(Cpnt..on.Page;22). . ,
CabfeWsion Might
Come To Freeport
FREEPORT - In a meeting be­tween
the Board of Trustees and
counsel for Cablevision, which
was open to the public and which
followed the usual Monday night
Board meetings, the Trustees
discussed the possible ramifica­tions
of Cable TV in Freeport.
After questioning Cableviston's
counsel. Daniel Sweeney, on cer­tain
points Village counsel and
the Freeport School District had
made, the Board set Monday,
April j l , : a t 8 pm. for a public
hearing. - -'. • - •'
• - In respoiise* to a question posed .
by THE LEADER .and Trustee
RJdpfa).Franco:{tft^Fr^^ rai»Ungr
Svic^ncif gfgjieed that it.jwis jjipsi-; r-:
sible that the PSCmlghtnotlllow
mimicfp'alities to keep the'3% of
the gross payment writteii into
most franchise agreements. THE-LEADER
had leariied. of- this
problem several weeks ago. How­ever,
SWeeney. pointed.out that :
Cablevision would, become; a "
'large real-property tax payer to
'the village, because it would pay
taxes on its physical plant, con-sistin'^
of all the wires and equip­ment
installed outside the homes. .
Village Qerk Tom DeVincenzo
concurred, pointing out that the
Telephone Company, without an
(Cont. on P. 24)
More Piiblic-^
Budget Hearings
FREEPORT- Another series of
public meetings.will be.held by
the Freeport School District,, to
provide citizen input into the pre--
paration of its'1977-7S-:School
,. Budget. Citizen participation will
be encouraged at. the meetings
which follow soon after the series
wbich dealt with specific budget
topics, ' ,•'
.Discussed by the Board, and
' the subject of audience questions
have been the topics of Opera-
. tions and Maintenance, • Debt
Service, Athletics, B(X:ES, Spec-iai
Schools,' Data Processing,
General Administration, Legd
Fees, Board of Education Ex­penses,
Public Relations, Cul­tural
Arts, Musicf Utilities
and Insurance. ' ' '
1 -The last in this series of public,
budget preparation sessions, on
-Transportation and Instroctional
Costs, will be held Thursday,
March 3, 8:15 pm, in the At­kinson
School Library. The public
win have an opportunity to hear
the presentation and make re­lated
comments and suggestions.
The second series of public
budget preparation meetings will
focus on how the budget will
specifically affect the operation
. . . . (Cont, on Page 7i , v . .,
Chorges, Countercharges
Mciife By Local Candidqfes
FREEPORT - With the village elections one' month away, • (March
15) Freeport's candidates are battling via press releases and state­ments
issued at house gatherings for only one side's candidates.
Last week, Village Trustee Wayne Jordan in a coltimn which was not
sent to THE LEADER, accused Mayor William White and Ws ad­ministration
of fooling the peo­ple
on the subject of tax In­creases.
In a chart he had drawn
up depicting taxes' from' 1973
through 1978, Jordan claimed
that the ; village homeowner •
paid "almost $1,000 in; higher
village taxes 'in the last four
years." ".v'• '••.•'
• Qaiming,there was an "over
;$1 tax increase every-yeat,'tat-cept
during election jfW,*V;Jor-,>
dan asked r'are'you being fool-e
d ? ' * - . • • ^'' / •?• : • - - • ; „ .
Jordan claimed that the real ^
. 1977-78, tax rate would be about
$1 hfg&'er except for "a healthy
• cash surplus from the Recreation •
!'Center'and the isale of village;
land." He. called these two
"artificial factors reducing the
rate for an election year." VHien
asked by THE LEADER to ex­plain
: the • "recreation; center
surplus," Jordan stated that ^ it ;
• was income that was anticipated,
but agreed that such income, or
more, would "probably" come in •
succeeding years as well.
In a final summary of his tax
: figures, Jordan stated that "if.
: you divide the $6.93 rate for
1973-74 by the 510.21 rate for
1977-78, you "will find there was
a .67%tax hicrease in the first
four years of the Mayor White-
Trustee Storm administration."
White Answers
In hb campaign >this week.
White — who is seeking re­election
— called' • Jordan's
charges "the third instance of
misinformation."...It makes me
suspect he is either inept or put-right
deceitful." The Mayor
pointed out that while Jordan, in
his release, writes that the 1974-
75 tax Increase for the Village
was $1.57, thatisV'Wot true. It
was 98«;;V .(^rrOR'S NOTE:
'using Jordan's printed .figures
and subt'racting the 1973-74 tax
rate of $6.93,."from the -1974-
75 tax rate of $9.03,'the Increase
viras98«); r
WJiite also cnarged that Jordan
was wrong that an average house
assessed at $7,000 wuld be
charged almost $1,000 in higher
Village taxes, in the last-four
years. ."A^ain," White stated,
"Jordan is 30% off in his fig­uring.
The total increase over
the four years was $665.70 or an
average of $13.44 per month over
48 months. Considering the'infla­tionary
period involved, $13.44
per month is not unexpected and
'reflects general conditions in the
metropolitan area."
' White also charged that Jordan
"took the wnmg route" in deter- ,
mining a 67% tax increase in the
four years of his administration.
He took the full tax, White said,
instead of the ampount of in­creases.
"By dividing the $6.93
(Cont. on Page 24)
A MAYOR'S PROCLAMATION. Mayor William White attended last
week's luncheon meeting of the Freeport Exchange Club to present the
organization with a Proclamation designating Crime Prevention Week.
The local Exchange Club is participating in the nationally-sponsored
Community Counter Crime program for which it has purchased over-
$100 of informational materials to be distributed throughout the Vil­lage.
Pictured (I. to r.) are Exchange Past President Gerry Soergel,
Mayor White, Counter Crime Chairman Charles Pigadls and Freeport
Police Detective Richard Muldowney who addressed the group on the
role of the citizen In crime prevention.