The-Helm_1974-11-20; Lynbrook Helm Independent Review

              \ brary
Vol. 14 No. 25 Entered a s Second—Class Matter
P o s t Office, -Lynbrook, N.Y. LY 3-1300 THE FAMILY NEWSPAPER Wednesday, November 20, 1974 fOe
Santa Coming
Annette Ling
That bewhiskered old gen-tleman
so beloved by generations
of small fry will be coming from
the North Pole courtesy of the
Lynbrook Chamber of Com-merce,
Inc., the Incorporated
Village of Lynbrook and the Fire
Department and Police
Department on Thanksgiving
morning, Nov. 28 at ap-proximately
9:45 A.M. at the
Earle Avenue Parking Field in
Lynbrook.
Santa will arrive via a fire
engine with a chief's escort
sirens blaring to the joy of the
little ones. The president of the
Lynbrook Chamber of Com-merce,
Barry Van Name and the
Christmas Cornmittee of the
Chamber as well as the Hai.
Francis X. Becker, mayor of
Lynbrook and the trustees will be
on hand to help Santa deliver
candy to his small fans and then
later, to lead them to a free
theatre party of cartoons at the
Lynbrook Theatre on Merrick
Road.
Letters to Santa will be
collected and he will also be on
hand at the theatre for a short
time to greet the children or in
case of inclement weather, he
will be at the Lynbrook Theatre
to join in the fun after his arrival
on a fire truck courtesy of the
Lynbrook Fire Department. All
youngsters are cordially invited
and the cartoon program will get
them home in plenty of time for
their regular Thanksgiving meal.
1975 County Budget Soars
Inflation, Increased Costs
Necessitates N. C. Tax Boost
"Inflation combined with in-creased
state and federal
mandated costs have over-whelmed
the aggressive efforts
of my administration to cut the
county's general fund tax rate for
the fourth cossecutive year."
With these words, Nassau
County Executive Ralph G. Caso
has proposed a 1975 budget that
"regrettably" necessitates the
first county property tax rate
increase since he took office in
1971.
In presenting the budget to the
County Board of Supervisors, the
county executive said: "The
current state of the economy has
adversely affected everyone's
cost of living, including the cost
of providing essential govern-ment
services. This disastrous
fiscal situation, which is beyond
my power to control, affected
Nassau County's expenditures
during 1974. The expected con-tinued
growth of inflation during
1975 will again significantly
affect the level and direction of
county government spending."
Caso warned that the
recommended budget for 1975
leaves little leeway to adjust to
any serious worsening of the
general economy.
"If general economic con-ditions
go from bad to worse in
the next 12 months, then we will
face an even greater financial
crisis, the consequences of which
I hesitate to even contemplate,"
he declared.
"We have cut back every
department budget request to
minimum levels necessary to
maintain essential services," he
added. "The economic un-certainty
of the year ahead has
forced us to prudently approach
all the budget's revenue and
expenditure lines.
"Never before in the years I
have been involved in the
municipal budget process have I
felt as uneasy about general
economic conditions.
"This budget was prepared
with the best professional
financial judgments that could be
made at this time. Our
judgments, as they always have
been in the past, are made in
favor of the taxpayer and with a
determination to keep the tax
rate as low as possible," Case
concluded.
As proposed, the 1975 general
fund property tax rate per $100 of
assessed valuation will go up 99.4
cents in the Towns of Hempstead
and North Hempstead, 99.2 cents
in the Town of Oyster Bay and
$1.01 in the City of Glen Cove. In
the City of Long Beach, which
receives a portion of sales tax
revenues directly rather than
letting them offset the county
property tax rate, the rate will
increase $1.02.
For the average home assessed
at $7,000, the increase will mean
additional taxes of ap-proximately
$70 a year.
Total recommended ex-penditures
for those funds which
affect most taxpayers - general
(including $60 million for the
newly-opened and separately-funded
Medical Center), state
court, police and community
college ~ are $690 million, up $103
million or 17.5 per cent over 1974.
Caso pointed out that while the
percentage increase is above the
8 per cent average increase in his
first three budgets, it is still
below the 23 per cent average of
the last four years of the prior
adminsitration.
He also noted that more than 80
per cent of the increase in
spending for next year involves
mandated programs, a factor
that makes the paring down
process all the more difficult.
The $103 million breaks down as
follows:
~ Mandated state and federal
welfare increases: $17.5 million.
- Civil service and police
salary adjustments and in-creased
hospital personnel: $17
million.
- State retirement. Social
Security and fringe benefits: $26
million.
-Transportation subsidies: $6
million.
- Inflationary effect on
material and supply purchases,
including fuel, food and
telephones: $9 million.
~ Debt service, including $2
million for buses: $9 million.
- Metropolitan Suburban Bus
Authority subsidy: $2 million.
- Community College budget
increase: $4.5 million.
- Police district budget in-crease:
$4.2 million.
~ School tax arrears reserve,
state court expenses: $8 million.
OPENS NEW OFFICE:
Maurice M. Meehan, president of
Suburbia Federal Savings, has
announced to the Helm-Review
the opening of a new permanent
office to serve the East
Rockaway area at 464 Atlantic
Avenue. The new facility is
modern in design and more than
doubles the size of the previous,
temporary office. There is a
drive-up window on the premises
and a parking area for
customer's convenience. To
celebrate the opening of the new
office on Monday, November 18,
Suburbia kicked-off a month-long counts,
"Twin Celebration" with the visitors
nearby Suburbia Lynbrook office invited
at 360 Merrick Road, also par- Weekly
ticipating. There will be a prize- in each
filled Treasure Chest Contest, well as
free premium gifts for new ac- for two
and souvenirs for all
In addition, everyone is
to register for Twin
Prizes to be given away
office for four weeks, as
the grand prize of a trip
to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Suburbia Federal Savings' main
office is in Garden City with other
offices located in South Hun-tington,
Kings Park and Pat-chogue
in addition to the Lyn-brook
and the new East
Rockaway office.