Center Moriches Taxpayers Community Discussion Forum

A road to lower property taxes was laid out Tuesday by Gov. David A. Paterson, who said total or partial consolidation of local government - including school districts - would reduce their expenditures and increase their efficiency.

He said it would begin with practical solutions, from consolidating noninstructional school support services, to figuring out how to join all of the recreational systems in a town so that they complement rather than duplicate each other.

He announced seven grants to help Long Islanders do that.

"Consolidating local government operations will reduce waste, lower the cost of doing business and ease property taxes for the people of Long Island and across New York," Paterson said at BOCES' Jerusalem Avenue Elementary School in North Bellmore, in announcing more than $2 million in Local Government Efficiency grants.

The largest grant - $1 million - went to Nassau's Board Of Cooperative Educational Services to work with county government officials to coordinate a unified noninstructional support services program. It would include internal audits, information technology and telecommunications, and out-of-district transportation.

"This grant . . . recognized the extraordinary cooperation that has gotten us to this point," County Executive Thomas Suozzi said. "We commend BOCES, the Nassau Council of School Superintendents and the Nassau-Suffolk School Board Association . . . "

Both Ronald Friedman, the Great Neck superintendent and council head and Lorraine Dalla, association head, were on hand to support the program.

So far, 44 of Nassau's 57 school districts, including BOCES, have signed up to participate, Suozzi said.

Secretary of State Lorraine Csquez, who has been active in Paterson's consolidation efforts, said the BOCES consolidation of services would save about $2 million in the first year and $40 million over the next 10 years.

Other grants included one for $600,000 to help Nassau consolidate Lawrence and Cedarhurst wastewater plants into the county's Bay Park plant - a controversial plan residents say would be ecological disaster.