Special districts mean more taxes

BY HOWARD S. WEITZMAN | Howard S. Weitzman is Nassau County comptroller.

July 8, 2007

There's something peculiar about local government in New York.

In New England, local government is based on towns. In the South and West, it's mostly counties. But in New York State, we've got counties, cities, towns, villages and, on top of those, special-purpose districts galore, running everything from water and lighting to parks and garbage collection. That's a lot of local government, collecting a lot of taxes.

And Long Island's special districts collect a hugely disproportionate amount of taxpayer money. Nassau and Suffolk contain fewer than 5 percent of these districts but are responsible for half of the state's special-district revenue (31 percent and 19 percent, respectively), or about $650 million, according to a recent state comptroller's report.

With sanitation districts, the numbers are even starker. Only 15 percent of all garbage districts are in Nassau County, but they account for close to half of all revenue, or about $181 million per year.

My office has made a study of garbage districts that shows how we could save money under a different system. We recently audited a small garbage district serving only 700 families and run by a board of elected commissioners. The district has no employees; it contracts out for garbage service. Yet board members met more than 120 times a year, with each member collecting a per diem payment of $80 per meeting, usually an hour or so over breakfast.

The fee is particularly striking when you consider that the boards of fire and school districts, arguably our most important small governments, serve without pay, by state law. Yet commissioners of water, sanitary, sewage treatment and parks districts get per-diem payments and often health and retirement benefits - permitted but not required by law.

If school board members and fire district commissioners are willing to spend so many hours in community service without pay, and vie for the privilege of doing so, do we really need to pay commissioners of special districts? Many districts are spending $30,000 to $40,000 a year on per diems, not including pension or health benefits.

In addition, commissioner-run districts generally administer services at a higher cost to taxpayers than services provided by towns.

We found, for example, that the 60,000 households that pay taxes to the Town of Hempstead's five commissioner-run sanitary districts could save at least $14.7 million annually if the town collected their garbage at the same cost per household for which it collects everyone else's. That's an average saving of $200 per household.

Why do towns tend to do it for less? Town governments are more professionally run, and town elections have a much higher rate of participation than district elections, providing more citizen oversight. Uniform town collection would provide economies of scale and more efficient use of personnel. And the town can provide its own lawyers, accountants, insurance coverage - all items purchased and paid for by the taxpayers of separate districts.

I have proposed to the State Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness, created by Gov. Eliot Spitzer and on which I serve, that it back legislation requiring towns to operate garbage collection services when more than 75 percent of residents receive such service. The town would absorb operations in special districts, while making commissioners unpaid. Layoffs would be unnecessary: the town would hire the district's employees workers and and eventually pare payroll, if needed, through attrition.

Existing districts could remain as a voice for their constituents. Frequency of pickup and back-door service would be up to local residents. If they vote for a higher level of service than the town normally provides, they would pay more. These are among the money-saving proposals that the state commission will be considering. To gather other ideas, the commission is holding regional hearings. The next one will be on Long Island July 24 and 25.