The-Leader_1977-12-15

              FREEPORT UEUORIAl LIBHARlf
» UERRICK ROAD. ..
FREEPORT
BAIDWIN
ROOSEVELT
MERRICK
IREEPORT'S
OfllCllll
NEWSPAPER
42n<l YEAR No. 33 FREEPORT. NEW YORK. DECEMBER 15.1977 PRICE 15« PER COPY
Mayor White Says:
eflni
Mandated Increases Will
Cause Vlllaige Tax Hike
FREEPORT - After weeks of lengthy deliberations and workshop
sessions concerning.the 1978-79 village budget, the Board of Thistees
has set Wednesday night. January 4,1978. for a public hearing on their
proposed figures.
While final figures are not .yet in, Mayor William White expressed
the opinion that it would be Im
possible to bring in a "zero bud­get"
increase. He pointed to the
various increases legislated upon
the village by federal and state
laws, such as hikes in unemploy-.
ment benefits and,the village's-contribution
as empioyen pension
and retirement benefits; and
1 other sodal security measures.
.White pointed out'that he
found.H difficult to.undetstand'
from the public and changes to be
made before the budget has to
adopted by the board.
Although- the exact figures
have not yet been released, the
most recent budget workshop saw
the trustees attempting to whittle
down a 71i per'SlCO. aJssessed
valuation fax increiise. \ .
. Within the last two months, the
Board had managed to. remove
It Ihowl ptheti>B9iHric}p"iUrie5; CT ;. from the budgets,. submitted by
iM'OECKTHE TREE WITH DECORATIONS." Brawhle.Trb6p"2098 of Freepbrt trimmed the Chriatnias
•.• tree'bn.display at the Freeport Recreation Center "during thb holiday aetoon..They wera^elped by :
: tfieJr leaders, Uhda^^IfSch/Ahlta Jinks, IflorenceWilte and a mother,- Mrs
sang Christmas Carols foi^thosQFreepprters preiient at thie.Center4asf Wednesday, as (h>y decorated
' the ten-^oot tree With beHsiWreialhsand start all of whli^ttwym ' •"
xViilpseioqMSc
Seyet:ar Public Hearings
FREEPORTr The vfflage Board of Tnistees has srt several datM for
public heaiin^. Soon'to be'coiisideted by the txnid aieot^nances
dealing with hawkers and peddlers, salary Increases for the mayor and
trustees and «tmpldyeeis'residency requirements.
.The first hearing sdiednled-will be-Monday night, December 19,
.8 pm, at collage haD. It deals mth a proposed increase inthe annual
compensation paid to the village
mayor and the fotff trustees. The
majror's present salary of $7,000 .
-would - be raised' to'an annual •
59,500,: while cadi of the four
trustees would jump from S3,500 .
to SS.OOO a year under the.ordi- -
nance. The village officials' last-increase
was in 1970. , - ,• •
"RrHAmrjlKW - -
A hearing was also sdiednled
for Monday night, January 16,
8 pm, at village haD, to consider a
l(xal law relative to the residency
of employe«» hired or promoted
by the village. The ordinance
would " require aD prospective
employees to reside within the.
village or to become residents of
the village within six months of
• the satisfactory completion of
their probationary period. "Em-plqjees
must remain residents of
the village to continue their cm-ploymcnt-
The ordinance also stipnlates.
that employees promoted by the
village, once the ordinance takes
effect, shall be residents of the
\-inage or most move into the vil­lage
within a year.
The prcvisioGS of the ordinance
may be waived by the board of
trustees if there is a lati.cf appli­cants
for a particular job or if the
board detcnaines that residency
is not in tie best interests of the
emp'.cyer.
Several years ago, a New York
State Cooit stiui± dorwn a resi­dency
law for the city of Boftalo,
citing Its conflict with istate laws,
partknlarly the New York State
Civil Ser^ce Law requirement
which spedfies reasotis for the
termination of empl^^oneht; and
the state public officeis law,
whidi the court interpreted as ex-,
duding police, sanitation workers
and firemen from residency re­quirements.
The third - public hearing
schedule deals with hawkers or
peddlers and spedfies that solid-tation
for donations, or for orders
for the sale of goods or services,
may only be made by canvassers
upon prior invitation of the owner
or o«upant of private property.
Budget Hearing
The Board also set Wednesday
night, January 4. as the date for a
public hearing on the 1978-79
munidpal budget and the Fire
Department contract. Mayor
William White explained that this
would aDow the trustees time to
ojnsidcr any input from the pub­lic"
before the budget most be
voted upon in order to comply
with state law.
AfEIrmatIre Actloa
The Board adopted and re-
(Gafit.onPage 15;
VilbgeVibfets
FREEPORT - The'Village's
watdr wells have been dedared
fiee. of- all harinfiil organics:
Aconding to Frwport. Superin­tendent
of Water Distribution
Edward'YoeUcer, this includes the
known and/or suspected cardno-gens
which have been of concern
ui several other water districts on
LonglsLand.
The announcement by Voelker
followed the receipt of an analysis
issued'by the/New York State
Health Department on samples of
FrcejxjTt's water taken pn June 2
and Noverater 1, 7 and 9. The
analysis proves the samples to be
free of vinyl chloride, di, tri and
tetra cfalotoethylene, chloroform,
toluene, benzene . and . carbon
tetrachloride.
Stolen Credit
Cards Recovered
FREEPORT - On Sunday,
December 4, a 50-ycar old woman
left a bazaar in the National
Guard armory on BabjJon Turn­pike
and walked to her car,
parked on nearby Grand Avenue.
Before the Freeport woman
reached her auto, bcn-tvcr. she
was accosted by three youths who
pulled her pockctbook from her
arm. .
Taken in the purse-snatching
were a wallet, cash, a bracelet, a
ring and five credit cards.
As cf this writing, the wherc-
(Ccmt. on Page 8)
hold the line or decrease'thejr tax
rate from the preceding year,.but:..
expressed the opinion that their-
, ability, to levy. or. ask; for other
forms of tax, su^h as sales.taz, or
their otuch .larger, involved bud­gets
made it possible. - . ,
This Saturday, Dcceinber 17,.
the Board will bdd theb last ,
scheduled workshop session, at
10 8m,"^in Village ; HaD. ;!!»•
meeting is open to tlie public as
virere all the meetings held these
last two months oetweea the.
boaid, the village treasurer and
department heads. '
The January 4 piiblic heating
date, at which time hoth a pro­posed
budget and the Fire De-'
partment odiitract, virill be dis­cussed,
is eariy enough to allow.
Mayor White - e^laJned, input
various department heads, suffi-dent
it^ras to bring down, a S1725
increase' to. ihe 71* figure." The
present tax rate isSlO.Zl perSIOO
assessed valuation:
At last Saturday's open work­shop
session, the Board spedfi-cally
noted several areas where
additional possible cuts could be
itiade. In oiie'case, just under
$6,000 could be say«l (specific
personnel. miatteis are^ not a
matter of public discussion. by
law) by not replacing a position
that would be eliminated due to
retirement of an employee.
The Board suggested that the
Freeport Fire Department at­tempts
to bring In its own budget
wtth\ increases, less than the
(6Mit.onPage7)
FIREFIGHTERS IN ACTION. Freeport's volunteer Fire Department
was called to the scene of a blaze on North Main Street late Monday
morning. The three unit structure consisted of a two-family apartment
house (seen above), a deiicatesjen and a liquor store. According to the
Nassau County Fire Marshall, the origin cf the fire Is still unde-termlned
as his office continues its investigation. The fire started, it
was retried, in a first-floor apartment. Two firemen were trapped for
several minutes in the general-alarm blaze which appears to have
caused extensive da.v.a5e in the apartments. T^9 liauor stcre, which
also suffered darnage was lo reopen within a day cr two cf the fire,
according to reports from o-*ner John Afctiate, *ho has been en Ucnh
Main Street f cr years and in the village fcr 30 years.
(A LEADER pl-,:to)