NCVOA elects new board for 2016-17

Chris Adams

The Nassau County Village Officials Association elected new board members to head the organization for  2016-17. The organization represents all 64 villages in Nassau, comprising 450,000 residents.

At a June 30 annual meeting, four mayors were installed in executive positions, including Old Brookville Mayor Bernard Ryba as president, Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy as first vice president, Flower Hill Mayor Elaine Phillips as second vice president and Farmingdale Mayor Ralph Ekstrand as treasurer.

Ryba said it was a great honor to be elected president of the association, and the position represents a pinnacle of service in local government.

“I hope to lead an increased emphasis by our organization in using collaboration with other organizations like the New York State Conference of Mayors, and our local legislature to recognize that an increase in state aid to villages is long overdue,” Ryba said.

Ryba said that the villages have received no increase in state aid over the past two decades, and in many cases had to borrow from other municipalities to fund necessary improvements. The state funding of $20 million in Aid & Incentives for Municipalities (AIM), actually shows a decrease from past years, Ryba said.

“This AIM funding is not only for the villages but also for the towns, so we all share in this tiny pot of money,” Ryba said.

Any increase to the state funding of villages would be a significant step, he said.

“Personally i don’t know what to hope for but any amount would be a breakthrough of sorts, because it would serve as recognition that this been overlooked for sometime, and is something that needs to be addressed,” Ryba said.

“I’m excited and I’m looking forward to working with the executive board and NCVOA to accomplish things with Nassau County,” Kennedy said. “There’s a lot of differences we have with New York State, and I’m looking forward to working with the mayors to resolve some of these issues.”

Kennedy also sits on the executive board of New York State Conference of Mayors, where he said he has fought to change the low tax caps that affect village planning.

“I think we need to stick together, all of the villages,” he said. “The issue with the tax cap is unfair and unjust. Only if you get all of the villages together, we can influence the governor and make some changes to the rules.”

The tax cap implemented by Gov. Andrew Cuomo unfairly affects villages when they propose projects or capital improvements, Kennedy said.

Another policy Kennedy said he  plans to fight is a mandate from the governor which will make the MTA exempt from taxes and excuse the transit agency from going before village planning boards for projects.

“That’s something that shouldn’t be in effect, and the planning board and the village should have some input,” Kennedy said.

Phillips said: “Local governments are the closest to the people, and the first line in delivering services that local residents need and want. But delivering the quality services they expect while holding the line on property taxes can be a challenge, and the NCVOA has proven a successful at helping find ways to provide better services while saving tax dollars.”

As mayor of Flower Hill since 2012, Phillips said, she has lowered taxes in her village and saved money by sharing services with other local governments.

“I am humbled and extremely grateful to my fellow local government leaders for the confidence they have expressed in me with this vote,” she said.

Phillips is  running for the Seventh District seat in the  state Senate.

Ekstrand also said he is opposed to tax caps imposed upon villages. He said he’d like to see village governments be able to pay for necessities like water improvements and ambulances without having it apply to the village tax cap.

“It’s kind of lopsided, New York City gets all kinds of grants, but the villages of Long Island, we get the crumbs off the bread table,” Ekstrand said.

As a pharmacy manager for the past 38 years, Ekstrand said, he will bring his experience in keeping books to the treasurer position, and his nine-year stretch in local government.

“I’m one of those do-gooders who wears a thousand hats, and I happen to think that the villages in Nassau County have to get together to force our issues upon the state,” he said.

The Nassau County Village Officials Association was created in 1925, with the goal of “encouraging and stimulating cooperation among the member villages for their mutual benefit and welfare,” according to its website.

The preceding president of the association was Plandome Manor Mayor Barbara Donno, who swore in the new electees on June 30.

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