Posts

Showing posts from October, 2020

Rice vs Clavin?

Image
U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice on News 4 report Thursday   Yes, the presidential and state office elections are Tuesday. Yes, all incumbents will say their sole focus is on winning re-election to the job they have. But that doesn't stop pundits from both Republican and Democrat political circles from speculating on next year. And the hottest gossip around Nassau these days is that U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) is considering a run against Republican Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin. The speculation was spurred by Rice's many unexpected attacks on Clavin this year. It's unusual for a member of Congress to attack a lowly town elected official. It started in May when Rice called Clavin to demand he turn over $133 million in federal coronavirus awarded to Republican-controlled Hempstead Town to Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat. "Or else!" Rice, Nassau's former District Attorney, allegedly warned Clavin in a personal phone call. A few weeks l

Nassau GOP budget fixes go nowhere

Image
  From Laura Curran's veto message It certainly was a tempest in a teapot. The Republican majority on the Nassau legislature today voted for a series of amendments to County Executive Laura Curran's $3.3 billion budget. Legis. Laura Schaefer (R-Westbury) recused herself yet again because of a conflict of interests between county business and her own personal business. Republicans argued that Curran's proposal to refinance millions of dollars in existing debt through the county's financial control board would cost more than if the county refinanced the debt itself, according to a consultant's report. But Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello's staff did not respond to requests for a copy of the consultant's report, which allegedly show these costs. Republicans also removed a 3.5 percent increase in sewer taxes for next year.  Curran had insisted that her budget was a "no tax increase" budget. Within hours, Curran vetoed the 12 Republican amendments, t

Plea: Don't settle reassessment suit until every homeowner is heard

Image
                                                                                  (From Nassau County Court file) A State Supreme Court justice today was to hear arguments over nearly a million dollars in legal fees before ordering the settlement of class action lawsuit that challenged the legality of  County Executive Law Curran's 2018 reassessment. But now a member of that class is objecting. Michael Margolis of Plainview has notified State Supreme Court Justice Stephen Bucaria that he is a homeowner in Nassau, a member of the class established by Bucaria in January and wants to participate. "As a member and/or potential member of the class, I request that you please do not accept any settlement of this action until all class members and/or potential class members can be properly advised of such and given an opportunity to explore their rights," Margolis wrote in a letter to Bucaria on Friday. "If the original plaintiffs seek to settle and not pursue this matter, t

Nassau: Challenges, not errors, in new tax roll

Image
                                                                                Legis. John Ferretti Legis. Steve Rhoads                                                                                                  The Nassau legislature today unanimously approved the first final tax roll using numbers developed by County Executive Laura Curran's 2018 reassessment after a deputy county attorney assured lawmakers there were 12,000 small claims court challenges in it, not 12,000 errors. The new roll will be used to generate next month's school property tax bills.  Generally, the tax bills go out in early October, but the governor ordered the bills to be sent out in early November, with payment of the first half by Dec. 10. The town tax receivers in Hempstead and Oyster Bay last week said the county assessor's office had called to say there were 12,000 errors countywide in the roll. But it was confusing even then whether the assessors's office meant actual assessment e

Body cameras part of undisclosed SOA deal?

Image
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Nassau County Police Department headquarters in Mineola Back in early September, word went around that Nassau County Executive Laura Curran had reached a tentative deal with the county police Superior Officer's Association. This would be the second labor accord reached by the Curran administration after all five major county union contracts expired in Dec. 2017, just before Curran took office in Jan. 2018. The Detective's Association last year approved a new eight-year agreement. Still pending are deals with the Nassau Police Benevolent Association, the Civil Service Employees Association and the Corrections Officers Benevolent Association. Curran included mention of the SOA deal in her Sept. 15 submission of her proposed 2021 budget to the county legisla

Judge: Nassau reassessment settlement can't be used against taxpayers

Image
                                                                Nassau Supreme Court Justice Stephen Bucaria, from NYcourts.gov                                                                              A more than year-old lawsuit challenging Nassau's reassessment as arbitrary, secretive and unconstitutional was almost settled today. Almost. Nassau Supreme Court Justice Stephen Bucaria told lawyers during a court hearing in Mineola that he was ready to sign an order settling the lawsuit if both sides made clear that he wasn't deciding the fairness, accuracy or constitutionality of Nassau County Executive Laura Curran's 2018 reassessment. And, he emphasized, the settlement would have to say in bold that it cannot be used by the county to fight taxpayers who claim their assessments are unfair. "I want the average layman, the average taxpayer in Nassau County to know it can't be used against them," Bucaria told lawyers for both sides. That left a settlement th