I am Meagan McCarty and I am running for Nassau County Legislator in District 11. My family and I reside in Port Washington, NY. I am so proud of my Port Washington police sergeant husband and of our two young children in public school.
As a child, I would spend my weekends working in the family hot stamp foil/holography/woodgrain company. I started out sweeping floors but then moved on to driving forklifts, developing products, running and fixing machines, sales and more. I learned every facet of the business, established an unparalleled work ethic and was eventually elected secretary-treasurer.
It was my enthusiasm for helping others and volunteerism around the Port Washington community that landed me a job as a legislative aide at the Town of North Hempstead and then in the New York State Senate. Constituent services became my specialty and I excelled at following up and communicating with the residents.
Due to the high cost of childcare, I, like so many others, had to push pause on my career. Currently, I am a class mom, Cub Scout Den Mom, Girl Scout Cookie Manager, and I am happy to leave homecooked meals on the porches of new parents’ homes or when a community member is sick or grieving.
After holding meet & greets and roundtables with the people of District 11, I know that the three biggest issues affecting our community now are: the botched reassessment, small business recovery and a need for a higher quality of life.
My first act as an elected official will be to continue advocating for an elected assessor.
The current reassessment came down during the worst financial and health crisis during our lifetimes. It triggered a butterfly effect, even with the freeze, that will cause several more taxes to skyrocket within the next five years.
Many people have seen that reflected in their latest school taxes and they are shocked. Rents will go up and that will trigger already struggling businesses to close and the people who are just eeking by, to have to move.
Let’s start over and give people a bit of time to breathe and financially recover from the past, almost, two years. I trust the people of Nassau County to vote for an assessor who will actually live in our County and be affected by the decisions-as we are. This assessor will be held accountable and be transparent. They will have to answer to the people of Nassau County.
There is absolutely no reason why Nassau County should not be the most business-friendly county in New York.
We need to be innovative and think outside of the box. As a mom who went back to work eight days after my youngest son was born and eventually had to put my career on hold due to the exorbitant cost of childcare for two young ones, we need a major overhaul in the system.
Incentivizing companies who exist and move here who have amazing parental leave/work from home/childcare programs and offer flexibility for families is something that I would like to accomplish.
This would act as a juggernaut to encourage businesses (large and small) to keep their valued employees, discourage turnover and in the end, save them a lot of money. We will see more young people staying in Nassau County and raising their families here and that will grow more businesses and contribute greatly to the health of our local economy.
I will also continue to hold quarterly small business round tables and seek feedback from businesses owners, as well as their workforce and unions. The information that is gathered will be brought back to the Legislature and I, in turn, will disseminate Nassau County information to them so that we all will be working together flawlessly.
I look forward to tirelessly working to not only make businesses aware of the funds that are available to them through the government but also following up, cutting red tape and offering assistance wherever it is needed.
I think that more informational satellite locations with extended hours before and after the typical workday are also needed. With me as the District 11 Legislator, monies won’t just “expire” because I will not stop reaching out until every last cent that Nassau County receives gets to the people and businesses that they so desperately need.
Parks, public safety and a general high quality of life are a huge part of why District 11 is the best place to live. However, we have a lot of work to do. If you go to some of the County parks, they seem dilapidated and worn down. Some are downright dangerous with jagged, razor-sharp and rusted banisters at my 5-year-old son’s level. Roads are filled with tire popping potholes and there is an uptick in crime. I am proposing a Quality-of-Life Taskforce that will be the eyes and ears, boots on the ground so that we can be notified about these issues and take a more proactive approach to solving these problems. Already existing Nassau County employees will be chosen for this task force and ultimately, we will save taxpayers money through this initiative.
There is nothing like having a fresh set of eyes on old problems. I have the experience in government together with my business background and can-do attitude to bring back more funding, revitalize businesses, advocate effectively for my constituents and give everyone some hope.
I am optimistic that, with your help, we will be able to make our district even better because we all want our children and grandchildren to have better lives than we do.
