NHP-GCP Board of Ed Upset Over Election Costs

The board of education met for a work session at Monday night that got a little heated towards the end when talk about paying for the upcoming special Aug 1 election came up.

The election will determine if Nassau County residents will vote in favor of County Executive Ed Mangano’s plan to redevelop Nassau Coliseum at a cost of $400 million.

One dilemma with the special election is that the custodial staff works until 3:00 p.m. on that specific date, meaning over-time will have to be incurred to keep the three polling places open.

Trustee Patricia Rudd said she did not want the board to have to pay for this election and said while laughing, “Send the bill to Nassau County.”

said another problem is that they are only being given $70 per district, per machine and three schools will be open for the election, costing about $2,200.

Many board members voiced that if the choice were solely up to them, they wouldn’t go through with this election, especially since there’s a good chance that not many people will be voting and that just having the polling center at Manor Oaks would be enough.

Vice President Joseph Bongiorno said, “If it’s good enough for our budget vote, it’s good enough for the Nassau Coliseum Development Corporation.”

Because the schools are designated polling places, Katulak said the board may not be able to deny opening up the three separate schools.

“I’m letting you know that’s an unfunded mandate, that we’re going to have to pay this cost,” Katulak said.

Bongiorno suggested, “Send a letter and tell the County, ‘you foisted on us the cost of your mistake when you assessed the property, we don’t have the money, what do you want us to do?’”

When all was said and done, despite board members thinking the cost is ridiculous, Katulak said they will be moving forward with this, mainly because they have to.

“I just think it’s silly,” said Trustee Joan Romagnoli. “The machines, the manpower, the hours that people are polling, it’s insane. They’re not going to get that many people…they’re not going to get as many as we get in a school budget.”