The New York Times-20080126-Taking Aim At the Perks Of Districts In Nassau
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Taking Aim At the Perks Of Districts In Nassau
The man who oversees the Water Authority of Great Neck North drives a Crown Victoria financed by taxpayers, who also pick up the tab for the gas and insurance.
With a salary of $183,283, he was one of the highest-paid water superintendents on Long Island in 2006. His son, who is an assistant commissioner in the district his father runs, earns $95,700 and drives a 2005 Dodge Durango equipped with a DVD player, also paid for by taxpayers.
In nearby Westbury, the water superintendent recently got a new $45,000 GMC Yukon, received attractive raises and bought three separate life insurance policies, all paid for by taxpayers.
A few rungs down on the career ladder are workers for the Oyster Bay sewer district who earn more than $100,000 a year.
Over in Jericho, another suburb in Nassau County, a veteran meter reader for the water district earns almost $94,000 a year, and the business manager makes $110,717, gets an official car and lives rent-free with his family in a house on district property.
Such expenditures are particularly common in Nassau County, where they go largely unnoticed by taxpayers, said the county comptroller, Howard Weitzman. He maintains that the lax supervision of such special districts is part of the reason for the high tax rates in the county -- the second-highest property tax bills in the country, according to Forbes magazine.
We're the only county in the state where all these special district commissioners are paid, Mr. Weitzman said on Wednesday.
But some changes may be on the way.
In his State of the State address on Tuesday, Gov. Eliot Spitzer included legislation in his proposed budget intended to prohibit special district commissioners from receiving salaries, a change that would bring them under the same restrictions imposed on members of school, library and fire district boards and other unpaid positions.
Mr. Weitzman said that such a move would eliminate at least $1 million a year in local expenditures, mostly in Nassau County, which he said has more wasteful spending in the special districts than any other county. The districts provide services like garbage pickup, sewer and water supply maintenance, and parks operations in unincorporated areas not served by towns and larger governmental units, said Mr. Weitzman, who over the last three years has been auditing the special districts and serves on a state commission on local government efficiency and competitiveness.
The proposed measures, which Mr. Weitzman acknowledged would be difficult to enact and put into place, would require that towns and other large governmental units take over the operation of the sanitation districts, and make other changes aimed at saving millions in insurance costs and operating expenses.
The governor's budget singled out the special districts in Nassau, which often charge households up to three times what nearby residents pay town and village agencies for similar services.
It's a huge first step, and with the governor on board, it feels like the cavalry has arrived, Mr. Weitzman said.
Still, he acknowledged the difficulty in overhauling a longstanding system, and he declined to say how long it would take.
For now, the question is whether the legislation can get through the Senate and Assembly, since jobs in special districts are often patronage positions that depend on the strong political loyalties of elected officials.
I'm not naive about this -- I know it has to be approved by the Legislature, and special interest groups will fight like heck to block it, especially because the commissioners are supported by local political parties, said Mr. Weitzman, who has needed court orders to obtain financial records from some districts.
Mr. Weitzman has set off a torrent of criticism of the districts by publicizing examples of spending by commissioners, who often have part-time hours, high salaries and lavish benefits and perks, including lifetime health benefits that cover family members. Many part-time workers and consultants who work sporadically receive far more benefits than those given to state and county employees.
For months he sent out news releases and audits that showed special district employees getting thousands of dollars for official vehicles put to personal use, as well as health benefits and official travel. He listed districts that pay about $20,000 a year per employee for medical and dental benefits. And he described $100-a-day payments for attending meetings that included golf outings, lunches and out-of-town conventions.
Newsday, which has published a series of articles about lavish spending among Long Island's special districts, singled out officials like the Plainview Water District commissioner, Edward Shulroff, who used his dental insurance to pay for braces for his wife, daughter and grandson. A spokesman for the water district defended Mr. Shulroff as running an efficient district that meets and exceeds federal and state standards.
Many residents do not even know the longstanding system exists, and since most of the districts are small, they have long avoided the kind of public scrutiny given to state, county and town budgets.
In addition to the state's 4,200 local governments, there are nearly 7,000 special tax districts, and the most extreme waste is found among the 200 or so districts and scores of commissioners overseeing districts in Nassau, Mr. Weitzman said. Except for a very few districts in Suffolk, Nassau is the only county where the commissioners are paid. Nearly $500 million a year in taxes goes to the special districts, he said.
Mr. Weitzman called for careful review by the three large towns that make up Nassau County. The Town of Hempstead has five garbage districts employing more than 500 and budgets totaling nearly $60 million.
A spokesman for Hempstead Town, Michael Deery, dismissed the criticism and said the town's special district system was fairly efficient.
If our residents come forward and ask us to take over the districts, we'd be delighted, but we won't impose our will on a community, he said.
At his office in Great Neck on Tuesday, Robert J. Graziano, the superintendent of the Water Authority of Great Neck North, who in addition to his Crown Victoria received low-interest financing on his home and a 42-inch plasma television set in his office to monitor the security system, referred questions to Great Neck's village attorney, Stephen Limmer.
Mr. Limmer defended Mr. Graziano, saying he was hired because of his experience and ability to run the agency rather than for his political connections. He said Mr. Graziano could earn more in business but has helped make and keep the district a model in the state.
We had to woo him away and buy him out of private industry, Mr. Limmer said. We're paying top dollar for the best guy we think is in the field. Is he making that salary? Yeah, that's what we think he's worth.
[Illustration]PHOTO: The Plainview Water District superintendent has been criticized for the way he paid for his family members' braces. (PHOTOGRAPH BY KIRK CONDYLES FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)(pg. B2)