Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman, one of the most vocal critics of special district spending, was himself a board member of the costliest water authority on Long Island — and voted for some expensive benefits and increases while there.
While on the board of the Water Authority of Great Neck North from 1989 to 1995, records show he approved the kind of spending and perks he has blasted in district audits.
But Weitzman, who said he took no pay or benefits while on the board, defended his role. “I’m very proud of my service on the water authority,” he said. “We safeguarded the water for the residents of future generations.”
While on the board, Weitzman voted to hire Robert Graziano, now the highest-paid water superintendent on Long Island. Graziano made $192,427 last year, records show, including accrued unused vacation days — a practice begun during Weitzman’s tenure.
In 1994, Weitzman voted to give Graziano a $10,000, or 13.8 percent, raise, minutes show. In 1991, he voted to give the part-time board chairman medical, dental and optical insurance, a salary and pension credits. And in 1993, Weitzman approved paying for the board treasurer to attend a five-day water conference in Las Vegas — the only out-of-state trip approved during his tenure.
“How can you throw stones when you live in a glass house?” said Karl Schweitzer, a Hicksville water commissioner and past president of Nassau Suffolk Water Commissioners.
Eden Laikin
and Sandra Peddie
Comments (3)
Get this straight. Let's stop playing games. Weitzman and Suozzi
are promoting consolidation only to get their hands on the $500 million of taxpayer money that goes annually to the special districts in Nassau County. Their claim that they are promoting consolidation
to save you money is a ploy...a tactic to get their real goals.
If the Nassau County residents truly want to lower their taxes then
the solution is to "care". Have the civic groups in each community
coordinate and form watchdog committees to attend meetings of each district and study the budgets etc. That is the solution, not handing everything to Weitzman and Suozzi. If you think that the
Nassau County government can save you money...then you are not
living in Nassau County.
www.longislandreporter.com
Howie is a hypocrite.....about time Ragday published the truth....they have known about his role in setting the gold standard for abuse for over 6 YEARS....Must be because he made same noises about running against Ragday's shill Suozzi.
Having 7,000 special districts for one county is not efficient. Yes, the motive for eliminating them is to spend less than the $500m that they get now, and that's called common sense. Saving money helps keep taxes down. We are wasting millions and millions of dollars on duplicative bureaucracies, and they should be consolidated and eliminated.
And no, it's not efficient for civic groups to oversee all this stuff either.