2012-01-05

              We're looking for
Freeport/Baldwin's
First Baby!
See page 5
39
77th Year, No. 1 Freeport, N.Y. 11520
m
The Community Newspaper Thursday, January 5, 2012 750
I've been working
on the railroad...
FREEPORT'S GETTING INTO TRAINING: Join other train enthusi-asts
for the winter model train show and exhibition at the Freeport
Recreation Center this Sunday, January 8. See page 4 for more
information. Top left, the Freeport train station viewed from the
north side of the tracks, west of the station, circa 1925, then the
train station after it was elevated circa 1930 and last, the station
as it appears today. Below is a photo of one of the original designs
painted on the LIRR engines and to the right is a photo
of the mural in the post office depicting the railroad as
a vital and cental part of Freeport's history. Lastly, one
of the original logo designs for the LIRR.
Budget message from Mayor Hardwick
Editor's note:
The Hardwick administration is propos-ing
a tax levy increase of 2.08% to cover
budget increases in the 2012 Freeport
Village budget. Mayor Andrew Hardwick,
in the message below, stated that the pro-posed
village tax will cost the average
one-family residential property an addi-tional
$12.75 per month or $153 a year.
Dear Freeport taxpayer:
As my administration finishes its third
year in office, I present to you my third
budget covering fiscal years 2012-2013.
When we took office in April 2009, we
were confronted with daunting economic
concerns and challenges.
The prior administration's years of out-of-
control spending, significantly increas-ing
debt and .questionable bonding meth-ods,
coupled with a deep recession, border-ing
on a depression, had to be corrected.
NAMES MAKE THE NEWS: Read about your neighbors! 72 local people's names were in your community newspaper this past week Maybe yours is in this week! See inside.
Initially, we requested that the New
York State Comptroller's Office review
the prior administration's fiscal practices.'
While the audit took several months to
complete, the report contained some very
disturbing information regarding the fis-cal
policies and day-to-day management
practices employed by previous adminis-trations.
As disappointing as it is for all of us to
receive this news, it was not unexpected.
Prior to the release of the comptroller's
audit, we immediately began to develop
and initiate a plan of action to address the
deteriorated state of the village's financial
structure, a gaping hole that left Freeport
with the largest debt of any village in
New York State.
A series of corrective actions were soon
put in place that included a way to cut
spending and eliminate the past practice
of using special-purpose bonds to pay for
operating cost overruns. Admittedly, these
were difficult decisions. However, in
these tough economic times, everyone is
being asked to do more with less.
Government is no exception.
Fortunately, over the past two-plus
years, by changing the course of how
business was being conducted in
Freeport, signs have emerged that we are
headed in the right direction.
In a day and age where municipalities,
states, and even nations are facing default
or near default credit ratings, Freeport's
financial position has strengthened,
enabling the hiring of more police offi-cers,
preventing layoffs, and making pos-sible
a program of road improvements
and other infrastructure projects.
Encouragingly, twice in the past sev-eral
months,- Moody's awarded the
Village of Freeport an Al bond rating,
citing the village's improved budgetary
practices and systems implemented by
the new administration, while also
indicating it expects Freeport's operat-ing
results to stabilize in fiscal 2011
and 2012.
And out of 23 recommendations
cited in the comptroller's report to help
Freeport more effectively manage its
future operations, nine have already
been completed and the remaining 14
are in the process of being addressed.
Among those actions - eliminating
the past practice of overestimating rev-enue
and underestimating expenditures
in my administration's first budget
covering fiscal 2010-20.11 - has result-ed
in a structurally sound and legally
balanced budget and served as a cata-lyst
behind Freeport's ability to signif-icantly
reduce its overall debt for the
first time in many years.
continued on page 10
Community
concerts
page 2
Attempted murder
in Baldwin
page 5
Baldwin bowler's
perfect game
page 10 I