Lesko eyes business growth in State of Town

Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko used his annual State of the Town address to unveil a partnership between several of Long Island's leading research institutions that he says will spur high-tech business growth.

The partnership, called Accelerate Long Island, will link Stony Brook University, Hofstra University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory and the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System to create a "rich entrepreneurial ecosystem" for start-up companies on Long Island, Lesko said.

Accelerate Long Island's main task will be to connect the research institutions with start-up companies and investors, Lesko said. A group of local government and business leaders have worked on the project for about nine months, he said.

"We need these start-up companies. We need to get back to making things again," Lesko said. "We need them to employ our next generation."

Lesko also focused on the town's struggle toward economic recovery and renewed efforts for bipartisanship in the politically divided town. The town board includes Lesko, a Democrat, two other Democrats, three Republicans and a Conservative.

"Democracy is messy," he said in an allusion to frequent arguments among board members.

Lesko was elected supervisor of Suffolk's largest town in a March 2009 special election. He was elected to his first full-term in November 2009 and is up for re-election in November.

Lesko serves as the town's chief elected official during a time of fiscal turmoil. He said last year that because of declining revenue such as mortgage-tax receipts and landfill fees, the town could be "flat broke in 2013" without sacrifices.

The first round of sacrifices came in November, when the town approved a $260-million 2011 budget holding the line on taxes while laying off three highway workers. Lesko had originally proposed 68 layoffs, and a host of service and facility cuts, but last-minute concessions from the town's unions allowed the town to scale back the cuts.

Councilman Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld, a Democrat, said Lesko was wise to focus on utilizing "the brain trust of Long Island" to stimulate the economy.

"We need to do our best to enhance what really should be a second Silicon Valley on Long Island," he said.

Councilman Daniel Panico, a Republican who spars often with Lesko, said the speech was "gracious" but he added that the town should monitor taxes, fees and housing prices while laying the groundwork for new high-tech jobs. "It's hard to realize growth when cost-of-living issues are holding us back," he said.