Judge blocks referendum on sanitary district

An appellate court has blocked a Baldwin-based sanitation authority from setting a referendum to decide whether the district should be dissolved.

The district -- Sanitary District 2, which serves more than 50,000 people -- was scheduled Friday to set a referendum date in response to a 5,300-signature petition from area residents. The dissolution, if successful, would be the largest such action in New York under a state law enacted in 2009.

But Justice Plummer Lott of the State Supreme Court Appellate Division in Brooklyn Wednesday halted the setting of the referendum until another case questioning the petition's validity is resolved.

In that case, district resident Patricia Cabram called for the delay pending a review of the petition, a request denied in State Supreme Court. Lott ordered the district and its co-respondents -- Hempstead Town clerk Mark Bonilla, the Nassau County Board of Elections and the district -- to return on Sept. 5 and explain why Lott should not let Cabram's case proceed before a referendum date is set.

Cabram's suit, which calls on the Board of Elections to review the petition, is due back in State Supreme Court in Mineola on Sept. 18.

Critics of the district say it issues tax bills of more than $500 per year per home, bills twice as high as they would be if the service were provided by Hempstead Town.

"At the end of the day, the opposition is jumping through hoops in an effort to block the residents of Sanitary District 2 from having the opportunity to vote," said Laura Mallay, executive director of Residents for Efficient Special Districts, which is campaigning for dissolution.

But Ken Gray, an attorney for the district, said the ruling could save taxpayers money if the district avoids a referendum that would have been void because of faulty petitions.

"It will allow the court . . . to determine if the underlying petitions are valid and if the referendum should be held," he said.

Cabram's attorney, Louis D. Stober of Garden City, said he has collected more than 200 affidavits from petitioners who dispute their signature on the petition.Some of the residents said they did not understand what they were signing, and others say the signature on the petition is not their own, Stober said.

"What we're ultimately seeking here is the bright light of the Board of Elections to make sure the petition is a legitimate one," he said.