Legislators override 29 Levy vetoes

The Suffolk Legislature in a special meeting Friday overrode a package of last-minute vetoes by County Executive Steve Levy, including a repeal of the cap on gasoline sales taxes.

Lawmakers overrode 29 vetoes. But there were others they could not act on immediately -- local laws for which override votes can only occur at regular legislative meetings, which do not begin until the new year.

Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) called the vetoes an "absolute attempt" by Levy to pass on blame for new revenue approved earlier by the Democrat-controlled legislature onto the administration of Democrat Steve Bellone, who was inaugurated Friday. "It was a silly show of bravado . . . to show he could do it," Lindsay said.

Spokesman Mark Smith said Levy "has not raised residents' taxes, parks fees or bus fares for eight years, and these vetoes were not about blame or last-minute gamesmanship. They were about the county executive remaining true to his core."

The legislature voted 12-6 along party lines on the gasoline tax cap repeal. The move will generate about $4 million for the county next year. The cap had barred the county from collecting sales taxes on the price of gasoline above $3 a gallon.

Legis. Thomas Barraga (R-West Islip) said the public does not understand how lawmakers could call themselves tax cutters before Election Day and then in the six weeks afterward raise police district property taxes and lift the gas tax cap. "Our credibility is at stake here," he said.

But Legis. Louis D'Amaro (D-North Babylon) said there is no evidence the cap is producing lower gasoline prices for the public. He noted that other counties that enacted similar caps repealed them as ineffective.

Lawmakers also overrode Levy's veto of increased parking fees at beaches and increased fees for tax maps, and appropriations for 10 capital projects, including $7 million for a medevac police helicopter. Lindsay said the appropriations preserve potential funding for the projects, which were included for the 2011 capital budget. If lawmakers hadn't appropriated the money by the end of 2011, the projects would have died and could not have been revived until 2013.