By Stephanie Petrellese

Several residents angrily protested new fees adopted by the Garden City Board of Trustees at its meeting last Thursday.

Trustees adopted seven new fees, as well as three amendments to the Village Code. The new fees will be added to the Village fee schedule, which is adopted annually at the reorganization meeting held in April. The Village Code can be changed at any Board meeting held during the year after a public hearing.

Emergency Response Fee Set

The first Code amendment unanimously adopted by the Board concerned reimbursements and fees for emergency response actions. If the Village and/or Village Fire Department is called upon to "clean up, remove, prevent, contain or mitigate a discharge of oil, gasoline or other hazardous materials," or responds to "an electrical or natural gas emergency," the responsible party will now be charged a fee by the Village.

In a separate vote, the Board unanimously agreed to set a fee of $500 per incident, and $125 per half hour in excess of the first hour.

"That really hurts," said Garden City resident Kathleen Auro. She described a scenario where a rear-end auto collision occurs and fuel is spilled. She argued that this fee adds more stress and financial burden to a person who is already dealing with many other ramifications which naturally ensue after being involved in an accident.

Trustee John Mauk explained that the Board is implementing user fees, or fees for people who benefit from specific services, to help raise revenue in a very difficult economy so that the Village can continue providing the high level of services that residents expect.

Trustee Dennis Donnelly added that many people who are involved in accidents in the Village are not residents.

Trustee Nicholas Episcopia said trustees are also subject to the fees. "Nobody wants to pay these things," he said. "All we're trying to do is to make things a little bit easier to try to spread the charges around to people who use things."

Patricia DiMattia, president of the Central Property Owners' Association, supported the Board's action. "I fully appreciate what the Board's trying to do, so I understand," she said. "I know the Citizens' Budget Review Committee was I think instrumental in outlining some of these things. I don't know why they weren't fully addressed earlier in the budget process last year."

Village Auditor James Olivo explained that the bills will be sent to the responsible party, who will most likely forward it to his or her insurance company. The Village will in turn likely receive a settlement offer.

Resident Arthur Anderson, who is in the insurance business, concurred with Olivo. He advised people to check their individual policies to see what is covered.

Resident Michael Ryan questioned whether this will actually generate revenue when administrative costs are considered. Mayor Robert Rothschild responded that "the cost won't be too great."

The public hearing on this law was adjourned until September at the request of Deputy Mayor Donald Brudie, who wanted the wording altered so that homeowners would not be charged for materials used during an emergency action on their property. This local law was rewritten and now applies to public streets and thoroughfares, rights-of-way and utility easements, and not private property.

Businesses To Pay Sanitation Removal Fee

As expected, the Board unanimously approved a revised version of a Code amendment which implements sanitation fees on commercial establishments, but does not include multiple dwellings or tax-exempt organizations.

Last month, a large group of residents who live in multiple dwellings within the Village attended the Board meeting to express their anger at the originally proposed Code change. The Board unanimously decided to adjourn the public hearing on the proposed change until the Sept. 10th Board meeting so that it could be rewritten to exclude multiple dwellings and tax-exempt establishments. The trustees agreed that the original intent was to charge commercial establishments.

The new law institutes a special sanitation removal fee for "excessive accumulation of waste." The proposed change defined excessive as "collection of more than one and a half cubic yard container (Dumpster) or ten 30-gallon acceptable waste containers or bags per week."

In a separate action, the Board unanimously set a fee of $5 per excess pickup. Trustee Dennis Donnelly said this means the average store will now have to pay $125 to $150 a month for sanitation removal.

"They are getting nothing more for it than they already got," explained Trustee Donnelly. "It was a method for us to recoup a quarter of a million dollars that we don't have today without severely impacting the businesses that have to pay it."

He added that the rate can be adjusted annually. A formula has been established to determine what each individual store will pay, based upon the number of Dumpsters and sanitation removal days needed. Mayor Rothschild said one Village establishment, which he refused to name but confirmed receives daily sanitation removal, will be charged $17,940 a month. The trustees want to keep the fee at a level they believe to be reasonable so that retail establishments are not motivated to consider private carters.

Trustee Nicholas Episcopia said the Board can consider adding multiple dwellings and tax-exempt establishments back into the Code next year. Residents at Wyndham, for example, would be required to pay $27 a year. Episcopia argued that under the tax structure they are already receiving a break because they are being taxed as a rental apartment.

Alarm Fee Angers Residents; Other Fees Set

The fee that caused the most commotion was a $75 per year charge on residents to register their alarm systems. Commercial entities will now have to pay $100 per year.

At the August 13th Board meeting, trustees approved a change to the Village Code that established filing requirements and an annual license fee for those who utilize an alarm system.

Garden City resident Arnold Finamore was angry at the Board for setting this new fee at a level he believed to be too high. "It's a hidden tax," Finamore said. "It's a tax on homeowners. You can call it a fee. It's outrageously high....I think it's unconscionable that the Village should try to make money off all of its residents. Just raise our taxes so we'll know where it's coming from. As a tax, we can take it off our income tax as a deduction. A fee you can't take off your income tax. It's not fair. It's all wrong."

Thomas Pinou, president of the Western Property Owners' Association, said his group believes that a fee on alarms is unfair.

Mayor Robert Rothschild explained that this fee was discussed during budget sessions held earlier this year. "The trustees felt this was an appropriate item to place a fee on in order to help us fill the gaps," he said.

An annual fee for home alarms is already charged by Nassau County. Fire Captain Harry (Gil) Frank, commanding officer, Headquarters Company, explained at last month's meeting that if a fire alarm goes to a central station, the station notifies the Nassau County Fire Communications Office (FireCom). FireCom then notifies the Garden City Fire Department. Depending on the agreement the homeowner has with the alarm company, there may be a brief wait before the central station notifies FireCom so the homeowner can quickly notify the central station in cases of false alarms.

The third proposed Code change generated no discussion and was passed unanimously. It allows the Board to set license fees in certain parking lots in the Village. In a separate action, the Board set a fee of $150 per year for license fees at the medical center parking field, parking field number 6 and the Fair Court parking area. Another uncontroversial fee of $100 per occurrence was set that would be charged to an automobile owner who seeks to release his or her vehicle from impoundment.

The trustees voted on another unrelated issue after discussing it during an executive session lasting more than one hour. The Board voted to approve waiver requests for Fire Captain Harry (Gil) Frank and Kevin E. Ocker, chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Cultural and Recreational Affairs. This allows both men to "double dip" and receive salaries and their pensions.

Capt. Frank's annual salary is $128,477, and Ocker earns $117,480. The Village does not pay retirement contributions for either employee, saving $18,629 on Frank and $12,570 on Ocker. The Village also saves $14,027 on health insurance on Ocker since he is covered under the retirement and it is carried by his former employer.

Ocker's approval was granted in a 7 to 1 vote. Trustee Quinn voted against the approval because he said he is against "double dipping." The vote to grant Capt. Frank's approval was tighter, 4 to 3 (Quinn, Brudie & Watras against). Trustee Episcopia abstained on Capt. Frank's approval, so the Mayor had to break the tie, which he did in favor of granting the waiver.