
Lindsey, Schneiderman Settle Police Tax Dispute Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer William Lindsay and Legislator Jay Schneiderman jointly announced a tentative agreement that will lead to the discontinuance of a lawsuit brought by Schneiderman and others over the distribution of sales tax revenues for police purposes. Under the terms of the agreement, a bipartisan working group will be formed to hammer out a revenue-sharing plan acceptable to all parties. The lawsuit, which was joined by Legislator Ed Romaine and six villages, alleges that the County violated it own laws and good faith agreements, claiming that sales tax revenues reserved for public safety purposes were distributed in favor of those who live within the tax district that funds the Suffolk County Police Department. Presiding Officer Lindsay strongly disagreed with that assessment, and filed a bill to remove the section of the Charter on which Schneiderman’s claim is based. Lindsay said revenues were being fairly distributed based on a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ forged with County Executive Steve Levy two and one-half years ago. The stalemate continued at the March legislative session when Lindsay’s bill was tabled by a one-vote margin after legislators agreed to give Schneiderman until the next legislative meeting to reach a compromise with Lindsay. “The writing is on the wall,” said Schneiderman. “We’re outnumbered. If we continue, the legislature is going to change the law and then we will be entitled to nothing.” According to Schneiderman, the towns and villages that maintain their own police departments have been receiving only half of the sales tax revenues they are entitled to under the Suffolk County Charter amounting to a shortfall of eleven million dollars over the past four years. Presiding Officer Lindsay, County Executive Levy, and many other County Legislators insist that the town and village departments were receiving a fair share of the revenue based on the agreement with County Executive Levy. “I do not agree that the Charter is clear about how these monies should be distributed,” said Lindsay. “Suing the county to settle the disagreement is the wrong course of action. It is time to drop the lawsuit and come to a fair agreement on how to distribute these funds.” For every dollar spent in Suffolk County, up to 3/8 of a penny is collected in sales tax and reserved for public safety purposes. The fund generates about one hundred million dollars a year that is mostly allocated to offset operating costs within the county’s own police department in lieu of higher property taxes. However, the five east end towns and 14 villages throughout Suffolk County maintain their own police departments funded by local property taxes. Sales tax revenues are collected equally across the county and Schneiderman said that these funds were being used to lower property taxes in one portion of the county at the expense of another, an assessment Lindsay and others strongly disputed. Schneiderman also contends that the County Charter forbids that practice, but Lindsay insists that the portion of the charter in question is entirely unclear, and that is why he proposed eliminating that section of charter law. Schneiderman disagreed. “This practice is unfair and unlawful,” said Schneiderman, “but, if the law is removed, it will just be unfair.” “Since the beginning I have been trying to get Jay to withdraw the lawsuit and come to the table to discuss this,” said Lindsay. “I think he is mistaken in his assessment of the situation, and in any case we don’t have eleven million dollars to give him without raising taxes in my district and across most of the county. If he wins, the vast majority of Suffolk County residents lose. I can’t take that chance.” Schneiderman has said that his main goal is to end the inequity moving forward. Under the agreement, the lawsuit will be withdrawn and Lindsay will withdraw his efforts to revise the charter. A working group will be established to develop a legislative solution to the revenue sharing issue, a group comprised of an equal number of members on both sides of the issue. The working group will make recommendations to the legislature on how to fairly resolve this issue. Presiding Officer Lindsay said that he and Schneiderman would appoint the members of the new working group and that they would reach out to the County Executive, the Charter Review Commission, the East End Supervisors and Mayors Association and other stakeholders before making their recommendations to the legislature. Schneiderman said the he had discussed the settlement with the other participants in the litigation and that all parties had agreed to set aside the lawsuit and work in good faith toward a fair compromise. However,” said Schneiderman, “it will take several weeks to formally withdraw the lawsuit because each Village will have to pass a resolution authorizing its discontinuance.” According to Schneiderman, Legislator Jon Cooper was instrumental in negotiating the agreement between himself and Lindsay. Legislator Cooper’s district is located in Huntington Township and includes four villages with their own police departments. Legislator Cooper serves as majority leader for the legislature. “I’m glad that cooler heads prevailed,” said Cooper. “This is an important issue that was heading in the wrong direction. I am confident that by bringing everyone to the table we will be able to hash out an agreement that we all can live with.”
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Lindsey, Schneiderman Settle Police Tax Dispute

Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer William Lindsay and Legislator Jay Schneiderman jointly announced a tentative agreement that will lead to the discontinuance of a lawsuit brought by Schneiderman and others over the distribution of sales tax revenues for police purposes. Under the terms of the agreement, a bipartisan working group will be formed to hammer out a revenue-sharing plan acceptable to all parties.

The lawsuit, which was joined by Legislator Ed Romaine and six villages, alleges that the County violated it own laws and good faith agreements, claiming that sales tax revenues reserved for public safety purposes were distributed in favor of those who live within the tax district that funds the Suffolk County Police Department. Presiding Officer Lindsay strongly disagreed with that assessment, and filed a bill to remove the section of the Charter on which Schneiderman’s claim is based. Lindsay said revenues were being fairly distributed based on a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ forged with County Executive Steve Levy two and one-half years ago.

The stalemate continued at the March legislative session when Lindsay’s bill was tabled by a one-vote margin after legislators agreed to give Schneiderman until the next legislative meeting to reach a compromise with Lindsay.

“The writing is on the wall,” said Schneiderman. “We’re outnumbered. If we continue, the legislature is going to change the law and then we will be entitled to nothing.”

According to Schneiderman, the towns and villages that maintain their own police departments have been receiving only half of the sales tax revenues they are entitled to under the Suffolk County Charter amounting to a shortfall of eleven million dollars over the past four years. Presiding Officer Lindsay, County Executive Levy, and many other County Legislators insist that the town and village departments were receiving a fair share of the revenue based on the agreement with County Executive Levy.

“I do not agree that the Charter is clear about how these monies should be distributed,” said Lindsay. “Suing the county to settle the disagreement is the wrong course of action. It is time to drop the lawsuit and come to a fair agreement on how to distribute these funds.”

For every dollar spent in Suffolk County, up to 3/8 of a penny is collected in sales tax and reserved for public safety purposes. The fund generates about one hundred million dollars a year that is mostly allocated to offset operating costs within the county’s own police department in lieu of higher property taxes. However, the five east end towns and 14 villages throughout Suffolk County maintain their own police departments funded by local property taxes.

Sales tax revenues are collected equally across the county and Schneiderman said that these funds were being used to lower property taxes in one portion of the county at the expense of another, an assessment Lindsay and others strongly disputed. Schneiderman also contends that the County Charter forbids that practice, but Lindsay insists that the portion of the charter in question is entirely unclear, and that is why he proposed eliminating that section of charter law.

Schneiderman disagreed. “This practice is unfair and unlawful,” said Schneiderman, “but, if the law is removed, it will just be unfair.”

“Since the beginning I have been trying to get Jay to withdraw the lawsuit and come to the table to discuss this,” said Lindsay. “I think he is mistaken in his assessment of the situation, and in any case we don’t have eleven million dollars to give him without raising taxes in my district and across most of the county. If he wins, the vast majority of Suffolk County residents lose. I can’t take that chance.”

Schneiderman has said that his main goal is to end the inequity moving forward. Under the agreement, the lawsuit will be withdrawn and Lindsay will withdraw his efforts to revise the charter. A working group will be established to develop a legislative solution to the revenue sharing issue, a group comprised of an equal number of members on both sides of the issue. The working group will make recommendations to the legislature on how to fairly resolve this issue.

Presiding Officer Lindsay said that he and Schneiderman would appoint the members of the new working group and that they would reach out to the County Executive, the Charter Review Commission, the East End Supervisors and Mayors Association and other stakeholders before making their recommendations to the legislature.

Schneiderman said the he had discussed the settlement with the other participants in the litigation and that all parties had agreed to set aside the lawsuit and work in good faith toward a fair compromise.

However,” said Schneiderman, “it will take several weeks to formally withdraw the lawsuit because each Village will have to pass a resolution authorizing its discontinuance.”

According to Schneiderman, Legislator Jon Cooper was instrumental in negotiating the agreement between himself and Lindsay. Legislator Cooper’s district is located in Huntington Township and includes four villages with their own police departments. Legislator Cooper serves as majority leader for the legislature.

“I’m glad that cooler heads prevailed,” said Cooper. “This is an important issue that was heading in the wrong direction. I am confident that by bringing everyone to the table we will be able to hash out an agreement that we all can live with.”

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