By Sid Cassese
Newsday (New York)
Copyright 2006 Newsday, Inc.
Backed by half-a-dozen Democratic legislators, a group of fire service leaders, including Nassau Fire Commission chairman Andrew DeMartin, called on County Executive Thomas Suozzi to return 2007 funds for county-based fire services to dedicated budget lines rather than folding them into the general fund.
Since 1992, the budgets for the fire marshal’s office, fire communications, and Nassau’s contribution to help fund the Fire Service Academy had been in dedicated budget lines and listed on separate lines on property tax bills.
“We feel strongly that the commingling of funds for vital public safety programs into a general fund could result in potential funding shortfalls ... especially when the county faces budget deficits like the ones predicted,” DeMartin said before a news conference in Mineola.
DeMartin said merging fire funding into the general fund will make it more difficult to track the amount of money the county is providing. “This is the only place in the state where these services are provided by the county,” he said.
But Deputy County Executive Tom Stokes said the county is acting at the recommendation of the state comptroller’s office and to improve oversight. “There will be no negative impact on the fire service budget. In fact [it] increased this year by nearly $500,000.”
Legis. Lisanne Altmann (D-Great Neck), chairwoman of the Budget Review Committee, said taxpayers deserve transparent budgeting, but “placing the fire commission’s budget in the general fund makes it invisible.”