Nicolello, Sedacca face off for 3rd time

Richard Tedesco

The race between longtime Republican incumbent Richard Nicolello and Democratic challenger Dolores Sedacca for the 9th county legislative district seat is a replay of two previous races in which the two faced off against one another, most recently in 2009.

“Third time’s the charm,” said Sedacca. 

The former mayor of East Williston and a 38-year resident of that village said Nicolello has not been a strong representative for the district and believes a change in representation is due.

“He has been there since the inception of the Legislature and he has not distinguished himself in all these years. Someone has to hold his feet to the fire,” Sedacca said. ”I think it’s time for the voters to take a look at me again.”

Nicolello, who is currently serving his ninth term, said Sedacca’s claim is nothing new.

“She said the exact same thing four years ago. It’s just kind of silly. My record speaks for itself,” he said. “I’m active as a leader in the Legislature.”

Nicolello, 53, a lifetime New Hyde Park resident, points to his current leadership role as the deputy presiding officer of the county Legislature. He said he’s taken an active part in supporting initiatives to cut spending under the administration of Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano.

“We’ve brought spending under control. We inherited a $250 million structural deficit and every year there have been rising pension and health costs,” Nicolello said.

Nicolello said freezing property taxes for the past three years, repealing the home energy tax on heat and electricity and forging private-public partnerships such as the county’s current bus transportation contract are the sort of policies he’s helped enact and plans to continue.

“Financial pocketbook issues are the most important ones,” he said.

From speaking with constituents, he said, he’s aware concerns about property taxes and said the county government has “made some strides in that regard.”

He said this year the county was able to resolve all residential tax challenges and corrected the tax rolls to save taxpayers $20 million. He said the county now needs to address reform of the commercial tax appeal system by imposing penalties or dismissing appeals from commercial businesses that fail to submit all relevant financial data in a timely fashion.    

“It’s just part of the system. It’s a terrible burden on the county’s finances,” Nicolello said.

Nicolello is chair of the Legislature’s Finance Committee, vice chair of the Economic & Community Development & Labor Committee, and  a member of the committees for Budget Review, Planning, Development & the Environment and Towns, Villages & Cities.

He’s also active in community organizations New Hyde Park-Floral Park Kiwanis, the Sons of Italy Cellini Lodge, the Knights of Columbus, the Parks Civic Association and Greater New Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce.

A practicing lawyer since 1986, he is partner in the law firm of Congdon, Flaherty, O’Callaghan, Reid, Donlon, Travis & Fishlinger in Uniondale.

For Sedacca, 65, revamping the county tax assessment system is a primary point in her campaign.

“What needs to be done now is do complete overhaul of all of the procedures at the department of assessment. And we need to get an assessment roll that is accurate,” she said.

She termed Mangano’s freeze in property taxes “misleading” and said Nicolello has let “misconceptions just stand.” 

“He hasn’t frozen the taxes on school taxes. What he’s done with the county taxes is tiny little thing,” she said. 

After serving as East Williston mayor for four years, Sedacca served as county Commissioner of Assessment Review from 2002 through 2004 and created the community outreach program for the county Department of Assessment as ombudsman from 2004 through 2009. Sedacca also operated her own real estate business and said she understands the assessment issues.

“I understand the importance of not taxing everybody out of their homes but giving true assessments to homes,” she said.

Sedacca said she also feels strongly about fostering economic development in the county through conservation initiatives.

“I really believe that Nassau County should be the driving engine for conservation. I especially believe that solar and wind energy are important to our future,” she said

She said the county should find ways to establish private production of solar panels and windmills to produce energy here rather than buying equipment from abroad.

Sedacca said she’s pleased with the progress the county has made on the Coliseum project, but said she’s reserving judgment until she sees details of the winning bid submitted by a group headed by developer Bruce Ratner.

Nicolello also said he was also pleased by what he had seen of the Coliseum proposal.

 “My reaction is very positive based on what I’ve seen so far,” he said. “It’s the best proposal I’ve seen on the Coliseum.”

Although Nicolello easily outdistanced Sedacca in her last race against him, she said the redrawn district lines, which brings most of Albertson, part of Roslyn Estates and most of Manhassset into the district will help her. She said she thinks the legacy of Nassau County legislators Wayne Wink and Judi Bosworth have left in representing those areas will put her in a favorable light.

“Just based on their good stewardship on the county Legislature, being a Democrat should give me a little bit of an edge,” Sedacca said.

The newly configured 9th district still includes part of the Village of New Hyde Park, part of Floral Park, part of Garden City Park, all of Mineola, Williston Park and East Williston.

Nicolello said the district reconfiguration would not adversely affect his chances for re-election. 

“The fact that they may have liked or disliked the representative they had isn’t a concern,” he said. “You have to get known by the people in those areas.”

Nicolello and Sedacca both said their primary campaign strategy will be walking through the district and ringing doorbells to speak with voters. Both said they will also be using direct mail to deliver their respective messages.

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