Dan's Papers - February 22, 2008

Two Suffolk County legislators, Jay Schneiderman (R-Montauk) and Edward Romaine (R-Center Moriches), have sued the County Legislature and County Executive Steve Levy for playing politics with County sales tax revenue intended for local police in East End towns. They believe that Levy is being "creative" as he interprets a 1998 law to fund both the County police and assist funding of local East End police forces. The legislators are going through the courts to try to recoup $11 million they believe is owed to the towns.

Now, on a totally different tack, County Legislator Bill Lindsay of Holbrook has countered the lawsuit by proposing legislation that would, in effect, give Levy broader powers on how to use the sales tax. A brief review of recent history explains how these events came to pass.

The relationship of the Suffolk County Police and the East End towns is a congenial existence of separate forces that overlap in only a few areas, such as homicides. In 1960, an arrangement between the East End towns and the County provided that the towns, not County police, would police the East End. However, a large part of the County, mostly on the North Fork, is still primarily under the jurisdiction of the Suffolk County Police.

When a new County sales tax law was passed in 1994, a formula was put in place to split 1/8 of one percent of the sales tax for the police forces throughout the County. However, when that tax allotment was expanded to 3/8 of one percent, County Executive Levy took it upon himself to set the amount of payment to the towns for their police forces, and to Suffolk County Police for their budget. Levy is now being accused of skewing the revenues in favor of the County police, in effect short changing East End towns of at least $11 million, according to Schneiderman and Romaine. Their lawsuit is scheduled for a hearing without a jury. Levy has reportedly called the lawsuit "ill advised."

The crux of the issue, to be decided by the courts is: How much authority does Levy have to interpret the detailed application of the 3/8 of one percent of the county sales tax? In a phone interview, Schneiderman stated that Levy was not following the statute. The talk of lack of flexibility in Levy's position has led to the current state of affairs, as County legislators - as well as the Village of East Hampton and the Village of Southampton - are suing Levy to resolve the problem. Schneiderman used the phrase "shortchanged," more than once when talking about the revenue allotted to East End towns. Repeated calls to Levy's office were not returned. Schneiderman also explained that, although he has worked successfully with Levy on many issues, this one is different. He doesn't truly understand Levy's reasoning, since the law itself states exactly how the funds are to be dispersed.

The case, filed in State Supreme Court, names Suffolk County, The Suffolk County Executive and the County Legislature as defendants. The filing requests that the court examine the present funding and rule in favor of returning to the formula set forth in the County Charter. In effect, the suit is seeking that the County's 2008 operating budget be amended to reflect the per-capita distribution of sales tax revenue as defined in the County charter. Schneiderman believes that almost $3.5 million should be distributed to the five East End towns and 15 villages for fiscal 2008 alone. Confident that he has the letter and spirit of the law behind his position, Schneiderman expressed that the resolution to this conflict has come down to a lawsuit, as radical as that strategy may seem.

The attention this case has received is of concern to Schneiderman, who wishes a more practical solution could have been reached without going to court. He believes that Lindsay's proposed legislation is pouring gasoline onto the fire instead of taking a more reasonable approach. In an email, Schneiderman wrote, "By trying to dismantle this provision, the Legislature would be undoing the agreement that allowed the County to begin using sales tax revenues to offset property taxes within the police district. The County has been acting like a schoolyard bully, taking away some kid's lunch money." He added, "Towns and villages depend on these legally-mandated funds to provide police protection. It's wrong, and now some want to make it permanent."