Hempstead Town delays budget vote for a second time

The Hempstead Town Board on Wednesday delayed a vote on its 2020 budget for the second time, citing concerns about whether the town will receive an anticipated $3.8 million in state funding.

The board voted 5-1 to adjourn the public hearing on the $437.6 million budget until 7 p.m. on Monday, the night before an Election Day that will determine whether Hempstead Supervisor Laura Gillen and Councilmen Bruce Blakeman and Thomas Muscarella will retain their seats.

Gillen, a Democrat, voted against the additional adjournment, which followed a similar delay two weeks ago, calling it "political theater."

"They're just trying to kick it down the road to the night before the election," she said of the five other board members, four of whom are Republicans.

But GOP lawmakers and Democratic Senior Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby said they only learned days prior that the state funding may be in jeopardy.

"If we do not get the $3.8 million then we'll have a $3.8 million hole," said Blakeman, a Republican, at the meeting. "There is no contingency plan."

At issue is Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) funding, which New York State provides local governments. The state reduced AIM funding in its 2019-2020 budget, but also required the Office of the State Comptroller "to withhold certain county sales tax revenues and make payments to the impacted towns and villages in the amounts that they had previously received through AIM," according to the website of the comptroller's office.

The problem is that state law "has no mechanism in place" for the comptroller's office "to make AIM-Related payments in State Fiscal Year 2019-20" to municipalities in Nassau or upstate Erie counties, according to the comptroller's office.

Hempstead board members Tuesday cited an Oct. 29 letter from Assemb. Edward Ra (R-Franklin Square) to Gillen, which said a new state law on AIM-related funding "did not take into account that Nassau and Erie counties had fiscal oversight/control boards in place," and that "a conflicting state law requires that those boards receive all collected sales tax in the county, which leaves no mechanism for the money to be distributed to the towns and villages."

Nassau County’s finances are overseen by the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority.

The situation puts Hempstead's anticipated revenue from the state "in jeopardy," Ra wrote. He added he plans to introduce legislation to address the issue.

The town board meeting was characteristically filled with bickering among the board members, which led to calls from public speakers for more cooperation among the elected leaders.

"This is dysfunctional," said Daniel Burgess of Freeport. "As residents, we have to have a board that works together — for us."