Bral implores Cuomo, state officials to further extend tax collection deadline

Robert Pelaez

Village of Great Neck Mayor Pedram Bral implored Gov. Andrew Cuomo to heed the village’s request to delay the collection of taxes in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic at Tuesday night’s Board of Trustees meeting.

Bral said local governments, including the village, are looking toward state officials for leadership and guidance during the pandemic. The mayor also said he will continue to work with Nassau County officials to get taxes delayed as much as possible.

“I am trying to get the [collection of] taxes delayed as far back as we can,” Bral said. “Unfortunately we have not heard anything from the governor as of today.”

According to Bral, a letter was sent to the governor’s office last week to request a further extension of tax collections throughout the village.

On April 20, Cuomo issued an executive order that allows Nassau County to delay the deadline for the second half of 2019-20 school district taxes without interest or penalties to be extended from May 11 to June 1.

Bral said there have been other mayors “throughout the area” that have done the same for their constituents.

“These are difficult times,” Bral said. “We do believe the state [and] the governor should heed our request and try to delay these collections even for a few weeks.”

Bral said he had a conversation with Nassau County Executive Laura Curran about the general status of the county throughout the pandemic, including the decreasing number of hospitalizations and patients who have tested positive for the virus.

“I wanted to appreciate all of those people who have hunkered down at home, and abiding by the social distancing,” Bral said. “We are hoping the governor and the states can come up with a quicker way of opening the economy and I’m hoping that can happen soon.”

As of Tuesday night, according to figures provided by the Nassau County Department of Health, a total of 37,152 county residents had tested positive for the coronavirus.  A total of 1,818 people had died. Total hospitalizations, 1,1014, and patients on ventilators, 257, both have gradually decreased over the past two weeks, according to the figures.

Village Trustee Annie Mendelson said she witnessed a “high number” of teenagers converging by the Parkwood Pool that were not abiding by the state’s social distancing and protective measures.  Mendelson said she has started to see this more frequently since the cold weather began to dissipate over the past few weeks.

“I wouldn’t object to having a tailgate party where people are in their cars and a distance away from each other, but they’re not,” Mendelson said. “They’re out of their cars and they’re socializing. It’s done in a public place, and I see it every night to varying degrees.”

Bral said people who are not abiding by social distancing measures should be reprimanded, but lauded those who have stayed home and adhered to the guidelines from the federal and state governments.

“A significant majority in Great Neck and throughout Nassau County have been abiding by the health protocols from the state and federal government,” Bral said.

When asked what the village’s financial status is in the midst of the pandemic, Clerk-Treasurer Abraham Cohan said the village has a “healthy reserve” to work with, and that daily expenses have decreased since some village staff members have not been working on site.

“As our revenues have gone down, our expenses have gone down because we are basically operating on a half staff,” Cohan said. “That doesn’t mean that the staff is not getting paid, there are just fewer people and less work has been done. For example, the [Department of Public Works], the expenses are significantly lower than what it used to be just because we don’t have enough staff to perform them.”

Cohan said sanitation, street cleaning and emergency repairs are the main priority for the department.

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