Size of public safety dept. questioned

Big enough.

Oyster Bay's Public Safety Department, with 100 employees and a $4.5 million annual budget, may have reached its limit, Town Supervisor John Venditto acknowledged Wednesday.

"I'm very, very satisfied with the spending level," he said in an interview. "But I think we're maxed out."

Venditto's comments came after Tuesday's town board meeting, where residents questioned the cost of unarmed security officers and bay constables doubling in five years.

Newsday reported last month that Oyster Bay spends more per capita for guard and constable salaries than any other Long Island town that also relies on county police for law enforcement.

The department started in 2006 with a $2.3 million budget and now includes full- and part-time employees totaling 75 guards and 25 bay constables. Venditto attributed the growth to the expansion of operations to 24 hours a day.

While saying he didn't plan additional hiring, the supervisor noted that contractual wage increases could increase future public safety budgets.

The four residents who spoke Tuesday challenged Venditto on the overall need for so many employees, who primarily patrol town properties and provide traffic control during events.

"I want you to recognize that there's a difference between need and want," Barbara Sullivan-Parry, an attorney who leads the North Oyster Bay Democratic Club, told Venditto, a Republican. "We can't afford it."

Venditto said Oyster Bay's "eyes and ears," as he called the public safety officers, replaced a private security company that cost roughly $1 million a year mainly to guard town buildings.

The firm, while professional, was "not up to task," he said, and was often aided by town employees working overtime.

Since creating a public safety department and hiring retired or off-duty police officers, drug and gang activity at parks greatly diminished, he added.

Claire Bock, another Democratic Club member, asked if the department's role as a visible crime deterrent, in addition to county police, was akin to "being taxed twice for the same service."

Venditto said, "Nassau police have their hands full. They can't sit 24/7 at our parks or buildings."

In Wednesday's interview, Venditto said he believed most residents supported the public safety force, and that speakers at the town board meeting represented a small political faction.

Terence Kelly, of East Norwich, who has questioned the need for the department, said at the meeting that he had been a "lifelong Republican," but objected to the agency's size at a time when property taxes have increased.

"Would you consider layoffs?" asked Kelly, who recently joined the Independence Party.

Venditto said he would not, adding the town is maintaining an operating surplus and isn't strained to provide other day-to-day services.

"I would have to go first," he said.