NY budget: LI fire departments get a lifeline

Daily Point

Budget process reaches a full boil

A final deal on the New York State budget was reportedly reached late Thursday afternoon. And this year, with much of the attention focused on bail reform and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s play to get the Buffalo Bills a new taxpayer-funded stadium, major boons or boondoggles for Long Island didn’t get serious consideration.

But the Island’s lawmakers have been pushing some smaller bills with significant repercussions for the region, and Thursday afternoon clarity on those bills emerged.

Sen. John Brooks, a longtime volunteer firefighter and strong advocate for local departments. told The Point that his bill allowing fire departments to bill insurance providers for ambulance service made it into the budget.

“That will shift about $100 million a year to those departments statewide, and a large portion of that will come to Long Island,” Brooks said.

But the Seaford Democrat said everything is still up in the air on another change Brooks has been pushing, elevating the current Division of Veterans Affairs into an executive department with its own commissioner. The change is meant to streamline veterans services in the state, increase enrollment, and give the needs of veterans a more direct line to the governor’s office.

“We’re going through the budget section by section now,” Brooks said, “and we are to some extent finding out what’s in as we go.”

On another local bill involving control of the Nassau University Medical Center board, the main thrust did not make it, but last-minute attempts to keep one part of the plan alive reportedly did.

The bill, sponsored by Assemb. Taylor Darling and Sen. Kevin Thomas, would have expanded the NUMC board from 15 members to 21, put the appointment authority for all the new seats under the governor and state legislative leaders, and given the governor the power to appoint the NUMC board chair, a power currently held by the county executive.

But the fury of Nassau County Republicans, paired with second thoughts about whether that would actually depoliticize NUMC governance, stalled that idea for now.

Thomas, though, said the last-minute attempt to save part of that bill giving the Nassau Interim Finance Authority auditing power over both the hospital and all industrial development authorities in the county, is in the budget.

NIFA board Chairman Adam Barsky told The Point he believes NIFA already has that power, but he understood the play was to compel those audits, rather than simply allowing them.

“If that’s what the state wants, I certainly have no issue with it,” Barsky said.

Assemb. Chuck Lavine told The Point he expected voting on pieces of the deal to begin Thursday and go through Friday.

— Lane Filler @lanefiller

Talking Point

Zoning politics in Baldwin

It was buried in Tuesday’s Town of Hempstead board meeting — item #44 of a 46-item agenda:

A resolution calling for a public hearing on a proposed temporary moratorium on any approvals or permits for property within Baldwin’s mixed-use zoning overlay district.

It was puzzling. And it has the whiff of politics.

Town officials claim there are concerns surrounding the state environmental review process, noting that the overlay-zone language doesn’t provide a mechanism for a site-specific review.

The resolution itself notes the potential for “significant negative environmental impacts that could result from the development of multiple high-density mixed-use projects that are currently permissible” within the zone. Projects, the resolution said, “could have significant negative impacts on, among other things, community character and quality of life, public infrastructure, police, fire and other emergency services, traffic and special districts, and therefore represent a threat to public health, safety and welfare.”

But the town already went through a general environmental review before the Baldwin overlay district was approved and the whole notion of an overlay zone was to streamline approvals and reviews going forward.

Even so, Jack Libert, who serves as Hempstead Town’s chief of staff, told The Point the initial efforts didn’t go far enough.

“It’s deficient, it’s subject to challenge,” Libert said in an interview, though he did not specify who might challenge it. “This whole thing could fall apart.”

Libert said he also had concerns about the proposal for a design review board — a three-member team that is supposed to review projects. Town officials never established that board. And Libert said he thinks the full town board should have a role in approvals, and public hearings should be held.

But Baldwin Civic Association government liaison Karen Montalbano told The Point that the whole point of the overlay zone, which was approved by the town board under Town Supervisor Donald Clavin’s leadership shortly after he took office, was to simplify the approval process.

“The point of the overlay zone was to make it much easier for developers to work here in Baldwin. It took them out of having to do the variance process. It helped to make it faster and to move it along,” Montalbano said. “It basically is setting us back. We’re not going to do anything for a minimum of a year. Then you’re going to make them go through a whole other process … just to get anything done.”

More than just development in Baldwin is on the line. Baldwin was the winner of one of the state’s $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grants. It’s unclear what happens to that money if the town suddenly places a moratorium on the very development it was supposed to propel.

But during the board meeting Tuesday, Clavin said the plan for a moratorium was meant to “safeguard the process.” And when Montalbano asked him why no one in Baldwin knew this was coming, Clavin said only: “We put it on the calendar for the public to see.”

Clavin didn’t respond to requests for comment.

While the overlay district was approved by Clavin’s administration, much of the work on it happened before Clavin took office — under the auspices of former Town Supervisor Laura Gillen, who is now running for Congress. Among those running for the same seat on the Republican ticket: Hempstead Town councilman Anthony D’Esposito.

So, could Baldwin redevelopment become a campaign issue? There are multiple ways to paint it. Either its delay could be framed as a loss for Gillen, who had made Baldwin a priority, or the moratorium could be portrayed as a win for D’Esposito. After all, also on the town’s agenda Tuesday was a similar moratorium proposed for development in Inwood and Lawrence, where D’Esposito might be trying to show himself as able to stop overdevelopment some residents have criticized.

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

Pencil Point

Taxing time

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Final Point

Last-ditch switch in Nassau Assembly race

One odd little surprise in this early state campaign season comes with a late scratch by the Republicans in the 21st Assembly District.

On March 25, Nassau County Republican chairman Joe Cairo released an election slate that included Nazia DeFrank, CEO of the Lynbrook-based Gourmet Ghee Company, as the party’s candidate to challenge two-term Democratic Assemb. Judy Griffin.

Soon after, however, the GOP switched its choice to Brian F. Curran, a lawyer and former Lynbrook mayor, who as an incumbent had lost the seat to Griffin (D-Rockville Centre) in an upset in 2018.

Why the switch? GOP spokesman Mike Deery gave this explanation: “When we initially endorsed Nazia DeFrank, we were unaware Brian Curran had any interest. If we had he’d have been our first choice. As soon as he said that to us, he got our support, and we think he can win this seat.”

Reached at her business, DeFrank told The Point she was “not really sure” why the substitution was made. She confirmed Curran is the new candidate and referred inquiries to him.

Griffin, seeking a third term, said, “It’s hard to figure out the GOP.” But she quickly gave a pitch for herself as a moderate Democrat that might be unique to the politics of 2022. She argues that a vote for a Republican in her district “is a vote to make the Assembly more progressive.”

That is, unseating her would remove a voice in the majority for modifying bail reform and for representing her district’s interests, Griffin argues. With only 43 of 150 seats right now, the Republican caucus has only marginal clout, and can’t yield results for the district, she said.

Todd Kaminsky is the State Senate incumbent in the overlapping 9th S.D. He isn’t seeking reelection. The GOP successfully tied him to their denunciations of criminal law reforms when he tried last year to become district attorney. Law enforcement remains a suburban concern in the upcoming state campaigns.

Curran was unseated four years ago after serving four terms. That was something of a blue-wave year, with Democrats winning back the U.S. House. Griffin became the first woman in that Assembly seat and the first Democrat there since 1974.

Curran, now substituted for DeFrank, would look to ride a wave that the county GOP believes is headed the other way.

— Dan Janison @Danjanison