A 'taxing' absence as Hempstead Town pops the property cap

Daily Point

Is the tax increase an opening for a Dem to win a town board seat?

Only one member of the Hempstead Town board was missing from Tuesday’s town budget meeting, which included two public hearings, in the afternoon and evening, and ultimately multiple board votes to approve piercing the state’s property tax cap and the budget itself, which includes a 12.1% increase in the town’s tax levies.

Republican Chris Schneider, who was appointed to the board over the summer after the death of Chris Carini and is now running for the seat in a special election next month, was absent from both meetings. Schneider, the only board member running a campaign this year, is facing former Nassau County Legis. Kevan Abrahams.

By Wednesday, Democratic organizers seized on Schneider’s absence. Claudia Borecky, president of the Bellmore Merrick Democratic Club, sent a memo calling Schneider’s absence a "dereliction of duty."

"Schneider’s absence from the vote highlights the ongoing deceptive practices, as the councilman facing election neglected to fulfill his voting responsibility," Borecky wrote

But, according to Hempstead Town spokesman Brian Devine, there’s a simpler explanation for Schneider’s absence: He was sick.

"He was under the weather," Devine told The Point, adding that Schneider took a COVID-19 test but had not yet spoken to Devine about the results. "I know he understands the significance and magnitude of every vote he takes. This was obviously unavoidable."

During Tuesday’s budget meeting, Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin pushed back on residents’ concerns over the 12.1% tax levy increase and attempted to distinguish the levy — the total amount the town will collect — from the tax rate, which will rise 4.9%. Hempstead officials argued that homeowners in incorporated villages will see taxes increase by $5 a year; in unincorporated areas, that increase will be $65 a year.

But those figures are averages and could vary markedly from homeowner to homeowner. In the email Wednesday, Borecky pushed back on that, too, noting that the actual tax increase homeowners face will be based on their assessed value, which could leave some homeowners with an increase of $600 or more.

Abrahams, meanwhile, noted that whatever the circumstances behind Schneider’s absence, it was "a big vote to miss."

"To miss a vote like that when you’re running to be returned to the board is crucial," Abrahams told The Point. "I would have turned over every stone and every rock before I even considered any tax increase. It should be treated as a last resort ... I could not see me voting for their budget in light of everything that’s there."

Abrahams said the budget — which was passed unanimously by the majority GOP board — reemphasizes the message he’s conveying to voters in the district.

"Right now, you just want somebody who’s going to be an alternative voice to ensure that what the majority is saying is correct and truthful," Abrahams said. Abrahams said that while his digital ad campaign began this week, he plans to rework some of the ads to reflect the town’s budget decision.

"It feeds exactly into what I’ve been explaining to residents and talking to residents about for the last two months," Abrahams said.

It’s also unclear whether the town’s approval of a tax increase will change any of the negative mailers that have gone out against Abrahams, mailers that criticize him for a tax increase the Nassau County Legislature approved more than two decades ago during the county’s fiscal crisis.

Nonetheless, Abrahams noted that even the Hempstead Town tax increase doesn’t change the dynamics of what already was going to be a difficult race for a seat that covers communities including Freeport, Bellmore, Merrick and Point Lookout.

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

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