A federal judge granted local labor unions a preliminary injunction on the Nassau County Executive Powers Expansion Law (Local Law No. 315-12) Monday.
The law, if enacted, would have given Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano the authority to open up collective bargaining agreements and extract $41 million or more in drastic labor cuts to pay for the county's backlog of property tax judgments.
Click here to read more about Federal Judge Arthur Spatt's ruling.
Officials Urge State to Uphold MTA Tax Ruling
State and local officials from across Nassau and Suffolk counties involved in the lawsuit against the MTA Payroll Tax are urging the state not to allow an appeal following a state supreme court judge’s ruling that declared the tax unconstitutional.
The ruling by Justice Bruce Cozzens, Jr. was handed down on a lawsuit first brought in 2010 by Nassau and Suffolk counties as well as numerous villages, argued that the tax which charged employers 34 cents for every $100 of payroll was unconstitutional based on the fact that it did not benefit the entire state, and either did not pass both houses of the state legislature with a two-thirds majority vote or adhere to the “home rule” clause from the local municipalities.
Click here to read more on the MTA tax ruling.
West Nile Death Confirmed in Oyster Bay
Nassau County Health Officials are warning residents to take precautions after confirming the first human death attributed to the West Nile Virus in Nassau County this year.
This is the second human case of West Nile Virus in reported in the last few days in Nassau County, and the first death this year.
Click here to read more about the West Nile case.
FEMA Agrees to Extend Low-Cost 'Preferred Risk' Flood Insurance Policies for Nassau Homeowners
U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten E. Gillibrand and Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy announced Wednesday that FEMA has agreed to their call for an extension of the low-cost preferred risk flood insurance policies for Nassau County property owners.
According to a release from McCarthy, under the existing flood insurance program, homeowners who live in an area designated as a flood zone are required to purchase flood insurance. These policies can cost up to $2,000 per year on Long Island.
Certain residents in Nassau County, however, who only recently were determined to live in flood hazard areas due to new mapping, were allowed to purchase Preferred Risk Policies (PRP) – a lower-cost alternative – at premium rates of $200 to $400 per year.
Those subsidized policies were set to expire on Dec. 31, 2012, and Schumer, Gillibrand and McCarthy urged FEMA to extend them. FEMA agreed to do just that, extending the availability of the PRP for eligible households indefinitely.
$77,000 median is fair. Huh Tom?
I hear you, I hear you, we alllll hear you....sell the unborn. I get it, we all do. Mass buyouts? Why? The old dinosaurs that have their time in already, are obviously not going anywhere. I'm guessing maybe you're a few years shy of retirement and that's why you're pushing your agenda? 1.7 BILLION in annual salaries, highest pensions in ALL of NYS....I understand that just fine thanks.
If Obama wins, as wished for by just about every union member, I can wait until the moaning starts as unions lose their Cadillac medical plans and end up paying for Obamacare..
option of not paying to go to the ball game. I do not have that same option for my school taxes. As for technology it has to do two things. 1) improve quality of education 2) lowering per pupil costs- clearly this has not been done in the eduction community- lastly save the contract nonsense since this is a scam put over on the taxpayers
1) Triboro amendment 2) What did the union give up to make students smarter- more after school time? extra help? nothing- the union is only interested in the financial well being of its members and could care less about the quality of education 3) Unions paying politicians and then expecting sweetened pensions- there were 55 bills introduced in 2011 to sweeten pensions 4) Professional negotiators vs well meaning but inexperience school boards 5) Resistance to charter schools- put a little competition in and you will see salaries drop dramatically 6) School budgets exempting salaries from the voters I could go on and on but I think I have made my point!
I love liberals that swallow this BS hook, line and sinker. No independent thinking, just follow the party BS..
The problems inherited by Mangano are the fault of yeaqrs and years of the poorest judgemnet used by past County Executives. These problems go back longer then Suozzi and Gulotta. No one had the balls to say eough is enough. Borrow money to pay off bad decisions, HMMM. That is starting to sound like the Bank Bail outs. Let everyone get away with creating the problem instead of prosecuting to the full extent of the laws. Why should the innocent have to take on the burden that they did not create.