7.
It's Nice On Ice
The ice skating rink at the Freeport Recreation Center is enjoying another successful season. The rink
closes on February 28.
Village Budget
(Cont. from Pagel)
of government. Over us are the
Town, the County, the State and
the Federal Governments. The
Mayor of Danbury, Connecticut,
recently made a statement I agree
with wholeheartedly. He said that
the local level of government, this
Village, serves the most yet
governs the least. We have all the
responsibility, none of the author-ity
and little money to provide a
reasonable quality of life. The
State has less responsibility,
some authority and money. On
the other hand, he pointed out,
the Federal Government has no
responsibility, but most of the
authority and money. As an
example of this ludicrous situa-tion,
last year we had SI20,000 in
Federal anti-recession aid to help
us balance the municipal budget.
While the circumstances remain
the same, the Federal Govern-ment
has determined this year
that local municipalities will not
get that aid. That, plus the fact
that we will not benefit from the
sale of Village-owned land as we
have previously, has made our
fiscal task more difficult.
The tentative budget we pre-sent
tonight is a consensus of the
Board of Trustees. It is important
to realize it represents only a
1.4% (Note: later reduced) in-crease
over last year's budget
which indicates how tightly we
have controlled expenditures. It
also reflects innovative moves
such as our new self-insurance
program.
We haven't eliminated so-called
"fat" because there hasn't
been any to eliminate. We have,
however, had to make painful
decisions. People have been put
out of work. Other positions will
not be filled. We are playing it
pretty close on the maintenance
of equipment and municipally-owned
property. There are cuts in
this budget that will be, I know,
immediately unpopular. There
are others whose impact will not
be felt for a while, such as in the
area of recreation and parks, but
they will be felt.
This Board, after arduous
hours with department heads,
had no choice but to make those
cuts. In many instances I opposed
them. In other instances, one or
more of my fellow Board mem-bers
objected. As I stated pre-viously,
this budget is a consen-sus
of the opinion of this Board.
The residents of this Village
now have an opportunity to give
their opinion. I received a letter
not too long ago which charged
Page 4
that it did little good for the tax-payers
to express their opinion at
a Budget Hearing. The record
speaks for itself. Two years ago
the budget was decreased after
such a session while last year one
budget line was increased at the
suggestion of many speakers. We
may not have Proposition 13 in
the Village of Freeport, but I do
feel we have an open line of
communication.
Please remember we are here
to listen, but must judge all
comments on the total picture of
our Village and the economic
welfare of its residents.
SHOPPING
IS GREAT
IN
FREEPORT
Freeport Mall, Merrick Road,
Woodcleft Avenue, Guy
Lombardo Avenue, Atlantic
Avenue, all around town...
REFERENC
FEBRUARY 1979
ews
A PUBLIC INFORMATION BULLETIN OF THE VILLAGE OF FREEPORT
46 NORTH OCEAN AVENUE TELEPHONE FReeport 8-4000 WILLIAM H WHITE. MAYOR
Public Meetings On The 1st and 3rd Mondays Of The Month, At 8:00 P.M.
Village Budget Up Less Than 1 %
The total of . the ,1979-80
Freeport municipal budget is
$13,291,271, an increase of less
than 1% over last year's. The tax
rate per $100 of property valu-ation
is therefore set at $11.11
an addition of 40* over 1978-79.
The additional cost to the owner
of the average house assessed
at $7,500 would be $30 for the
year, or about $2.50 a month.
The largest budget category
increase over last year is in Public
Safety, which covers mainly the
Police Department and which is
up 12.8% over 1978-79.
The proposed budget was the
subject of a public hearing on
January 8 and carried a tentative
tax hike of 54$ along with the
cutting in half of funding request-ed
by the Freeport Arts Council
Economic Opportunity Council
and Family Services Association.
The majority of speakers at the
public meeting requested that
full funding be restored ' to "the
three groups. Comments were
made as to the "image building" '
assets of the Arts Council to the
Village, the value of EOC's
Head Start program which
provides child care while allowing
parents to be employed or
trained and the similar "human
services" provided by the Family
Services Association. It was also
pointed out that the level of
funding received by the groups on
the Village level has a direct
effect on their ability to attract
further governmental and private
monies.
In adopting the budget on
January 15, the Board of Trus-tees,
which had brought down the
department heads' original
requests which would have
totalled a tax hike of 97<t, set the
rate at 40<f while restoring full
funding to the EOC and Family
Services and increasing the
amount allocated to the Arts
Council in the tentative budget.
While unable to commit future
Boards, the Trustees indicated
that such funding should be
phased out over the next five
years by which time the EOC will
have purchased a Head Start
Center and the Arts Council,
which at its conception was to
receive "seed" monies from the
Village and School District, will
have explored other means of
support. Also restored from the
tentative budget were two
positions in the Recreation
Department.
Despite the restoration of cuts,
the lower tax rate was achieved
by a $134,500 reduction, primar--
ily in the contingency fund, to
reflect anticipated savings in
refuse collection be it through
changed work rules within the
municipal department for greater
economy, or by contracting for
private carting (see accompany-ing
article). Any savings realized
beyond that budgeted will go into
the general fund to help offset
any tax increase in the 1980-81
fiscal year.
The complexities of adopting a
municipal budget in the present
inflationary economy and main-taining
services without overbur-dening
the taxpayer, was discus-sed
by Mayor William White in
the following Budget Message
delivered at th'e January 8 public
hearing:
The Board of Trustees began to
react to the taxpayers squeeze
lung before Proposition 13, some
five years ago. In 1974 we had a
total of 440 full time Village
employees. Today we have 381. a
decrease of 59 positions, and that
is only one area in which we have
consistently tightened the belt.
We asked the residents of Free-port
some time ago if they wanted
to perhaps save tax dollars by
going to the County Police. The
answer was a resounding "no"
even though the area of public
safety, which includes the Police
Department, makes up over 22%
of the Budget being discussed to-night.
Very recently we asked the
people if they would be willing to
give up backdoor pickup for a
very definite saving. Again the
answer was an overwhelming
• "no". . .
/ have a certain philosophy
about Village Government. With-out
question it is the closest to the
people. The taxpayers see their
hard earned dollars at work serv-ing
them. When they don 't think
that money is working for them,
they can collar any member of
this Board, coll the Hall or come
to this room on Monday nights.
The average property owner pays
$770 in Village taxes and I per-sonally
feel he sees a lot of ser-vices
for that comparably small
part of his total tax bill.
However close to the people we
are, we only represent one level
(Cont. on Page 4)
Trustees: Thomas J. Lovelidge, Dorothy Storm, Wayne Jordan, Alfred Sirlin
Village Clerk: Thomas DeVincenzo - Treasurer: James J. Lyons - Counsel: Michael Solomon
Pagel
(Note: As this "Village News"
went to print, the Board of
Trustees had not yet voted on
whether or not to accept a bid for
private carting or refuse although
they were expected to do so short-ly.
If private carting is adopted, a
mailing will be made to each
resident which may be received
before this "Village News.")
Some six months ago the Board
of Trustees began investigating
the advisability of eliminating the
Village's sanitation force and con-tracting
but for the same service
by a private carting firm.
According to Mayor • William
White, the sole reason for the
investigation, and subsequent
solicitation for bids, was, "Mon-ey.
We wanted to know if private
industry could do an equal, if not
better, job for less than a munici-pality.
We had before us the
preparation of the 1979-80
municipal budget. Somewhere a
substantial savings had to be
found. The residents had made us
quite aware that they wanted no
savings having to do with the
elimination of our Police Depart-ment
even though it represents
the largest proportion of the
budget, so we had to look else-where.
Sanitation, with its $1.3
million budget, was an obvious
area to explore. While, under
State law, the taxpayers do not
vote on the municipal budget,
they do have every right to expect
their elected officials to 'hold the
line' while preserving services as
much as possible.
"In a Village which provides-almost
every service except tele-phone
and gas utilities, Jhe Board
fully realized we would create an
outcry, as we did with the police
question, when we publicalfy an-nounced
we were even thinking of
relinquishing such a personal
service as garbage pickup. What
we couldn't know was that the
regional daily newspaper would
'muddy the waters' even further.
My purpose now is to clarify
matters with the true facts.
"First, the recent poll of resi-dents
of one and two family
homes as to continued backdoor
garbage pickup vs curbside had
absolutely nothing to do with
keeping our municipal sanitation
department or going to a private
carter. Curbside pickup would
represent a savings to the tax-payer
regardless of who would do
the collection. Four to one, Free-porters,
as I had personally pre-dicted,
want backdoor pickup.
The poll, however, did not have to
do with sanitation services alone.
We were 'testing' once again.
Our larger question was 'are
Freeporters willing to continue to
pay for their special services'?
Obviously they are. Backdoor
pickup will be maintained.
"Because of the poll, there is
now criticism that we are not con-ducting
a similar survey regard-ing
municipal sanitation services
vs private carter. On every level
of government we elect people to
make decisions based on facts
perhaps not available to the rest
of us. This decision rests solely
with the Board of Trustees.
"The second point on every-one's
mind seems to be, in light
of a recent newspaper series, 'Is
the Board crazy or are they get-ting
a kickback'? I won't justify
the latter point's validity beyond
saying 'no'. The Board began its
investigation knowing that 95%
of Suffolk County's communities
are serviced by private carters as
is the vast majority of the incor-porated
and unincorporated areas
of the Town of North Hempstead,
the Farmingdale Sanitation
District, the Village of Massa-pequa
Park and parts of Massa-pequa.
Those communities'
experiences with private carting
runs up to 20 years. We've
spoken to the government offic-ials
and/or administrators in
every case as has the Town of
Oyster Bay which is exploring the
'same route. In each instance bur
inquiries brought positive re-
.sponses as to the economical ef-ficiency
and taxpayer satisfaction
as to service.
"Several months ago every
resident was told via the 'Village
News' thatFreeport had contract-ed
with a private carter to run our
refuse transfer station when en-vironmental
standards made it
economically unfeasible to con-tinue
to maintain our municipal
incinerator. That move caused a
national publication to devote
several pages to Freeport's move
and the substantial savings
realized. Not one resident made
an objection because the Village
had contracted with a private con-tractor.
Page 2
"There seems to be very
personal concerns voiced that I
would like to dispel If private
carting should be selected, resi-dents
will not deal with, or pay
directly, the private carter. The
contract win be with the Village
which will pay all monies. Com-plaints
will be handled through
the Village offices as always. The
carter's trucks will be stationed
on municipal property so, in case
of heavy snows, service can be
resumed as soon as roads are
cleared. The level of service as to
schedule of pickups, holidays,
special pickups etc., by the bid we
wrote, would be matched to the
service now enjoyed. We have
reason to believe if..would be,
surpassed.
"If the Board does decide to
award the bid to the lowest priced
reputable bidder, some say,
'We'll get killed with the price
after the three year contract runs
out'. Again, I will point out we
have checked with all muncipali-ties
with experience of up to 20
years with private carting. Private
businesses may experience exor-bitant
hikes but municipalities,
have not. By law municipalities
go to public bid and take .the
lowest, reputable bidder capable
of handling the task, or reject all.
A municipality represents a siz-able
client to a carter and a 'plum'
when he seeks others. They do
not want to price themselves out
of market. We are presently talk-ing
about a three year contract
with a private carter and there are
those who say if two and a half
years from now we found we no
longer can afford a carter,, we •
would also not be able to afford to
reinstitute our municipal force.
That is not accurate. In this
current budget we have the pur-chase
of needed vehicles for
$37,500. If we purchase those
vehicles and stay with our munici-pal
force in three years those
vehicles and others may have to
be replaced. Under our current
bid, new vehicles would not be
purchased and our older ones
would be sold for a revenue pro-viding
figure of about $100,000.
Reinstating our sanitation force
three years hence would mean the
purchase of new vehicles through
the issuance of a bond which will
(cont. on next page)
not be paid out over one year but
over several
"The Board, when it began this
investigation six months ago, was
\futty aware of the 'human ele-
•'ment' involved in our desire to
save taxpayers' money in the
sanitation area. We are much
concerned that the jobs of 47
persons, many of whom have
served this Village faithfully for
years, are at stake. The Civil Ser-vice
Employees Association is
well aware of the fact that I, as
Mayor, have met with them and
will continue to meet with them,
to see if we can offer a substantial
savings to the residents by keep-ing
our municipal force. The
savings can not be as great as
offered by private industry, but
the Board will consider a reason-able
compromise.
"I have also promised the
CSEA that if the Board chooses to
go the route of private carting,
every attempt will be made to aid
those 47 people. The private
carter would need a completely
new -staff and preference would
be given to the municipal sanita-tion
men who are also Freeport:
residents. Others can be slotted
into' positions made available
through retirements, etc. For
others, the Village will press to
see that they get the fullest disa-bility
and retirement benefits. For
those that do not fall within these
categories, we will give the long-est
paid time possible and give
them every assistance in finding
new employment. We realize it
would be counterproductive .to
create unemployment among
Freeport residents.
"Lastly, I .must refer to the
recent • ~* newspaper'' 'series. "''All'
Freeporters, at one time or other,
have been offended by the daily's
reporting about our community.
We all have reason to view what
we read, hear and see from the
media with a jaundiced eye which
is quite possible while still up-holding
the concept of freedom of
the press.
"The series gave a blanket
indictment of mob involvement to
' every individual with an ItaliesK
surname involved in garbage
collection. The truth is such a
sweeping indictment in Brooklyn
proved some parties to be guilty-of
restraint of trade, a misde-meanor
carrying a $1,000 fine.
The manufacturer of the car you
drive and the machine that
washes your clothes was probably
similarly fined. It is a fact that
neither the lowest bidder, or
second lowest bidder, for the
Village's contract, was mentioned
in the newspaper series.''
Tuesday, March 20 is the date
of the 1979 Village elections at
which time two members of the
Board of Trustees will be selected
by the voters for four-year terms.
The seats are currently held by
Trustees Thomas Lovelidge and
Wayne Jordan.
Hours of voting will be 7 am to
9 pm at all polling .places used in
the General Election. All resi-dents
who have voted in a Gen-eral
Election (Town, County,
State and National) in the last two
years are eligible to vote in the
Village election unless they have
changed addresses. Registration
for Board of Education votes does
not make one eligible to vote in
Village elections. Voters need not
own property in Freeport. Those
who do, but reside elsewhere, are
not eligible.
Registration for new voters (or
those who have moved) in the Vil-lage
election will be held at Vil-lage
Hall, 46 North Ocean Ave-nue,
on Saturday, March 3, from
noon to 9 pm. Proof of residency
will be required. Registration for
Village elections does not make
one eligible for General Elections
although the reverse, is true.
Applications for absentee
ballots in the March 20 vote can-not,
by law, be accepted by the
Village Gerk prior to February 20
nor any later than March 6. Such
ballots may be used only by those
who will not be in Freeport or
vicinity on Election Day or can
provide medical certification that
they are unable to go to the polls.
The elected Trustees will be
installed on Monday, April 2,
8 pm, Village Hall, as part of the
Village's Annual Organization
Meeting.
AfRSsg flfco many csJJvo youth groups In tfra Vlllego oro the Qlrt gsssste
who oro known for fhalr many community projects. Much of theJr
support comes from the sale of cookies so they brought The Cookie
Monster, in full Scout regalia, to meet Mayor William White. At right
is Brownie Troop 2118 Cookie Chairwoman Annette Carter and her
daughter, Alalna, and Community Cookie Chairwoman Janene Suchan
and her daughter, Mary.
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