County wins ruling to see town’s books

Richard Tedesco

Town of North Hempstead officials said this week that they will appeal a June 17 ruling issued in New York State Supreme Court that the Nassau County comptroller’s office has the right to audit the financial records of the Clinton G. Martin Park District in North New Hyde Park. The park is a special district operated by the Town of North Hempstead.

Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman said the town will file an appeal in New York State Appellate Court in Brooklyn this week,

“The legal battle will continue and our books will remain open,” on Kaiman said in a statement. “The county, in its entire history, has never audited a town because state law, we believe, is pretty clear on this issue. We will let the courts decide based on the law and do whatever the courts ultimately decide, but as we have said time and again, our books remain open for all to see.”

The town sued Nassau County and its comptroller, George Maragos, in May to prevent what it called an illegal attempt by Maragos to audit records of the Clinton G. Martin Park District.

At the time, Kaiman refused to comply with a subpoena served on the Town of North Hempstead and sought a court order to prevent what he called a “back door” move to audit the town’s finances.

“It’s all about politics,” Kaiman, who is up for re-election this year, said at the time.

Maragos said the attempted audit was not politically motivated. He noted that his predecessor, Democratic Comptroller Howard Weitzman, had conducted audits of several special districts.

In rendering her decision on the case, acting Supreme Court Justice Denise Sher dismissed the petition filed by the Town of North Hempstead seeking to bar the county comptroller from conducting the audit.

Sher said the County Charter’s definition of special districts “does not preclude defendant-respondent County Comptroller’s auditing of parks as ‘special districts’.”

“Neither the New York State Constitution, the General Municipal Law nor any other statute applicable here specifically bar any local governmental entity from exercising concurrent auditing powers (like those sought to be exercised here) with the State Comptroller,” Sher said.

Sher is a Republican who worked in the Hempstead town attorney’s office when Nassau Republican Party chairman Joseph Mondello was town supervisor.

“I am pleased with Justice Sher’s decision,” Maragos said. “This matter can now move forward and the audit of the Clinton G. Martin Park District can proceed. The residents of this district have waited a long time for answers to questions relating to the taxes they pay to support the district and its operations. Now they can get some answers.”

When the town filed its suit in May, Kaiman said the county charter gives the county the right to audit records of sanitation, water and garbage districts, but not park districts.

He said only the state has the right to audit the town’s financial records, noting that he had offered to let the state comptroller’s office to conduct an audit and share those results with the county comptroller’s office. He said he’d also offered to provide the financial records to the county comptroller to enable him to offer an opinion on them, and said that offer was declined.

He said “financial records are reconciled” for Clinton G. Martin Park. He added that the subpoenas also sought records not related to Clinton G. Martin Park.

On the heels of the state Supreme Court ruling, Maragos issued a statement saying, “The residents of this district have waited a long time for answers to questions relating to the taxes they pay to support the district and its operations. Now they can get some answers.”

The complaints about the park district came from Marianna Wohlgemuth, president of the Lakeville Estates Civic Association and Marietta DiCamillo, president of the North Lakeville Civic Association. They had reported what they considered to be irregularities in the park district’s finances shortly after Maragos took office.

Their complaints were part of an ongoing disagreement between the town and the civic associations over lease payments from the town on a building it uses in Clinton G. Martin Park. The civic associations say the town owes them $20,000 or more – the annual lease is $20,000 – but the town has maintained that its lease is paid in full.

“We merely want an end to the unresolved financial issues brought forward over and over again. Issues need to be fully addressed,” Wohlegemuth and DiCamillo said in a statement.

The two civic association leaders, who Kaiman has characterized as “community gadflies,” said their interest in resolving the dispute is not politically motivated.

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