Roslyn mayors again meet

Bill San Antonio

Mayors of the five Roslyn villages reconvened Monday at the East Hills Village Theater for continued discussion about ways of reducing costs and collaborating on service and equipment contracts.

During the two-hour meeting, North Hempstead officials outlined a variety of town departments through which the villages could explore consolidation, including information technology, roads and highways, security, human resources and grants. 

Ken Pritchard, the vice president of the Woodbury-based D&B Engineers and Architects, P.C., also detailed a $2 million East Hills road improvement project through which other villages would be eligible to join at a 10 percent discount.

“We all live in a world of increasing costs, and we figured this would be an opportunity to save some money and help each other,” said East Hills Mayor Michael Koblenz, who added that East Hills has agreed to provide street-sweeping services to the Village of Roslyn Harbor.

The mayors previously met in December to open discussion on how to take advantage of the state’s property-tax-freeze initiative, through which residents with a combined household income of less than $500,000 could become eligible for rebates if proposals submitted their local governments and approved by the state generate cost savings of 1 percent each year for three consecutive years, beginning in 2016.

Villages would also have to remain in compliance with the state-mandated tax cap and remove local laws permitting their governing legislatures from exceeding the tax cap in formulating annual budgets.

“I have a great respect for the mayors of this town. You all do a very tough job,” said North Hempstead Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth, who introduced the other town officials.

Town services eligible for consolidation include the addition of the reverse 3-1-1 system, street sweeping, basin cleaning, tree work, paving and grant writing, among others.

“We’re not here to take over, we’re not here to infringe on your autonomy,” said Andrew DeMartin, the town’s public safety commissioner. “We’re here to work together with you.”

Koblenz said the mayors plan to meet again in the coming weeks.

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