Hempstead controversy over reorganization

Earlene Hooper, deputy speaker of the State Assembly, has added her voice to those wanting to explore the possible governmental reorganization of Hempstead, the state's largest village.

"I am a taxpayer, and I cannot afford to live here," said the assemblywoman, who was at the village board meeting Tuesday night to talk about $500,000 in extra sales tax revenue she said she had obtained for Hempstead.

"The village charter does not lend itself to leadership, good constituent services and creativity," she said Thursday.

Former village trustee and justice Lance Clarke, a former Republican mayoral candidate who is also a spokesman for a group pushing the reorganization, said, "It's not a Republican or Democrat thing, but a people issue. We're in a fiscal crisis now and civic leaders should be bringing this issue up."

Clarke said at the board meeting, "If we don't do something, Hempstead will be out of business."

The Good Government Voters Association is a group of at least two dozen civic activists looking to reorganize village government as a way to bring down property taxes and improve services. Clarke said the group is looking to use The Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act, which Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo pushed the Legislature to pass last year when he was attorney general.

But Democratic Mayor Wayne Hall, halfway into his second four-year term, abhors the movement. "I will not advocate dissolving the incorporated Village of Hempstead," he said at the meeting. "I will not support that."

Added Hall, "Hooper is behind the whole thing," and said Clarke was involved because "he still wants to be mayor."

Under the law, grants for up to $100,000 can be available for municipalities to study different ways to reorganize government. But those proposing the change must come up with a required number of signatures on petitions -- 10 percent, or 2,560 of the registered voters in the village.

Clarke said there are 200 signatures so far in 2 1/2 weeks, but it "was the holidays and we'll push hard now." Technically, the petition calls for a dissolution but that just starts the study process, officials said.

The signatures must be verified by the village clerk, who then would have 30 days to put the issue up for a referendum vote.

There are at least four new possibilities to be studied, Clarke said. They including dissolving the village government and becoming a hamlet in the town, with no government structure; becoming a city, with more structure and authority and a greater piece of county sales tax pie; creating a "ward" system with trustees elected from specific civic areas who elect a mayor with a reduced salary from among them; or establishing a trustee-appointed village administrator/manager, responsible for day-to-day village operations.