Suffolk County legislative districts have changed but important issues remain

This year’s battle for seats in the Suffolk County Legislature occurs in the shadow of the race to succeed County Executive Steve Bellone. Going into the election, Republicans command 11 of 18 legislative seats, just one shy of a supermajority, resulting from the 2021 regional “red wave.”

These contests take place on a redrawn battlefield. In the once-a-decade redistricting process, the major parties managed to agree, after posturing and negotiation, on a map that for the first time includes four districts where ethnic minorities are in the majority. The result, as usual for the process, is the creation of new boundary lines that shifted some communities in and out of the old districts.

The new legislative class will be responsible for responding to a series of changing circumstances in a county of more than 1.5 million people. Each lawmaker's positions could have an impact on the local effects of rising sea levels, water quality and solid waste removal, county spending and taxes, services, economic development, affordability of new housing, and the destructive effects of drug addiction.

The current legislature this year left hanging an important item of business — action to fund the replacement of hundreds of thousands of outdated septic systems with modern equipment that removes nitrogen from wastewater, which is harmful to ecosystems, as well as add new sewers.

How quickly a new version of the plan, requiring voter approval of a minuscule rise in the county sales tax, can be advanced next year remains to be seen, with the current crop of Democratic and Republican candidates showing some division on the details.

The approaching closing of the Brookhaven landfill, which accepts ash and construction-and-demolition waste, poses not just a county challenge but a regional one, testing whether lawmakers can help forge plans for recycling and disposal that improve on a patchwork of town-by-town solutions.

The next legislative term will also show the public the degree to which the county’s police unions influence legislation and policy of interest to their members, how well abuses have been curbed, and the ability of the county to fully recover from the major cyber-hack that has staggered services.

Underlying all these questions is whether county lawmakers regardless of party can provide constructive, independent oversight and input regardless of who becomes county executive. The Newsday editorial board’s endorsements are based on consideration of such issues.