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Short change or short space? Voters would choose
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Hours after a Suffolk County legislator proposed a bill to divert monies from the drinking water protection and open space preservation fund last Tuesday, the Huntington Town Board went on record to oppose it.
The proposed bill (IR1458-2009), if passed in the Legislature, would give voters a choice: either authorize the county to reallocate about $6 million from the drinking water/open space fund into the general fund — to help shore up the budget deficit — or accept a county tax increase.
"Every program we have, we have to look at and weigh that against a massive tax increase," said the bill's sponsor, Legislator Cameron Alden (R-Islip).
While Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy agreed, he does not favor Alden's bill. "While every measure is on the table, it's something we prefer not to do and our support would be unlikely," Levy said.
County voters in 2007 authorized an extension of the Quarter Center Drinking Water Protection Program, which also stewards parkland, through 2030. Legislator Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Neck), who led that effort, estimates that the fund will add up to $25 million over 15 years. Now, he's leading the opposition against Alden's legislation.
"I think that the public has shown, very clearly by overwhelming margins every time this has come before them, that they understand the value of preserving open space, protecting our farmland, and protecting our drinking water," Cooper said.
Cooper said eight other legislators have pledged their opposition to Alden's bill as he continues to rally to his side.
A.J. Carter, spokesman for Huntington, explained that the bill would "reduce the amount potentially available to the county for preservation projects and available to us to leverage our funding as we line up willing sellers. It makes the program more competitive between the towns since there is less to share."
The chairwoman of Huntington's open space committee, Joy Squires, congratulated the Town Board for taking a firm stand on the issue. "We do not want money diverted from open space acquisition."
Yet this is more than a quality of life and health issue, Cooper said.
"This is also an economic issue, as open space draws people to the county and promotes tourism," he said. "Tourism dollars generate a tremendous amount of sales tax revenue for Suffolk County. If we were to lose that, I can't imagine the consequences."
Without precise figures of how much potential sales tax revenue the county would stand to lose, Cooper averred that the county is largely dependent on its farmland, vineyards, and parks to attract tourists.
"Everyone is in agreement that if we lose our pristine open spaces … that's much of what attracts people from New York City and other parts of the country to want to come out to Suffolk County," Cooper said. "The tourism industry is largely dependent on the beauty of our natural environment."
"Open space does not necessarily correlate to protecting drinking water," he said. "There are some key areas that have been identified and this bill does not affect that at all. … All this would do is slow down open space, which is more or less for aesthetic reasons."
The program was envisioned as a drinking water protection program and not a property tax relief program, said Stephen Jones, chief executive officer of Suffolk County Water Authority.
"This is not going to close any gaps," Jones said. "It's not going to be a significant enough sum to alter the county's balance sheet, so is it really worth it?"
The $6 million could go toward acquiring drinking water easements or to buy properties in the Pine Barrens, Jones said. "It would be a shame to have the program crippled to any major extent because it's been working well and we have made great strides in protecting vast areas for drinking water for the future."
Dick Amper, executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, also disagreed with Alden, opining that the Legislature is wrong to even consider this bill. "Protecting drinking water and preserving open space is the only government function that isn't paid for by property taxes and the general fund. Everything else the government could mess with."
Drinking water protection and open space preservation were put in place through a referendum in 1987, renewed four times, Amper added. "This is stealing money that the public earmarked for this purpose and it will not reduce taxes in any way. It would simply go into a slush fund for the legislature to spend."
If the bill passes later this month, it would appear as a proposition on this November's ballot "to give the people of Suffolk County an option whether or not they want to see their property taxes increase or whether or not they want to see a slight adjustment in the open space purchasing area," Alden said.
But Cooper said the Legislature should not go back to the voters over and over again about the same issue. "If we would lose these tourism dollars … no one doubts that it will cost us tax dollars and that's going to have to be made up some other way and the most likely way would be to raise property taxes," Cooper said.
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