Irrevocably Bound

On January 1st, 1960 the Town of Smithtown voluntarily relinquished the lion’s share of its local autonomy. With the enactment of the Suffolk County Charter, Smithtown and the nine other townships comprising the region permitted a larger, more centralized government to take the reins of power in Eastern Long Island. This Charter provided for a new “administrative officer” named the County Executive and allowed for the creation of a “county police department” to supersede the hegemony previously held by local law enforcement. The townships, once authorizing this transfer of power, were to be “irrevocably bound” to the county without prospect of recourse or appeal. Now, fifty years and seven County Executives later, Smithtown is suffering the inevitable consequences of government expansion. It is learning the age-old lesson that the bigger a government gets, the less efficient it becomes. By nature, its expanding bureaucracy will necessitate injustice and misrepresentation.
For decades, since the creation of the Suffolk County Charter, Smithtown’s 4th precinct has been labeled a “low risk” crime area by the powers that be and has been allocated County funds and resources accordingly. Historically, the residents of Smithtown have been willing to pay higher property taxes in exchange for safer streets and better education. However, the disparity between resident taxes paid and 4th precinct funds received has grown so large that Smithtown is no longer the “low risk” safe haven of old. Out of the $47.8 million Smithtown residents now pay in property taxes for the Suffolk County Police Department, only $24 million gets back to the 4th precinct and its brave men and women in blue. With Smithtown’s burgeoning heroin endemic on its streets and in its schools, it defies all logic that County Executive, Steve Levy has allowed this monetary injustice to occur. The people of Smithtown are not getting back that which they have paid for their security and their peace of mind. The officers and detectives of the 4th precinct are some of the best and the brightest in the nation but their hands are virtually tied by big-government handcuffs and their ability to perform has been stymied by bureaucratic ineptitude. With diminishing funding and escalating cuts in manpower, squad cars and resources, it’s no wonder that Smithtown finds itself mired in the middle of Long Island's heroin crisis.
With recent news headlines, County Executive Levy has deferred comment on the 4th precinct’s resource debacle to Suffolk County Police Commissioner, Richard Dormer. Dormer, who has performed admirably as Commissioner, has had no choice but to serve the county as a whole while simultaneously dealing with a faltering revenue stream in difficult economic times. He has explained that his job as commissioner requires him to allocate funds to the precincts proportionate to their populations and shift resources as needs and emergencies dictate. Ultimately however, the recipients of these discretionary funds are at the mercy of the ever- political office of the County Executive; and here lies the bigger problem.
Smithtown homeowners pay higher property taxes because, on average, their homes are worth more money. Their property values are higher mainly because historically, their neighborhoods and schools have been safer than others in the county. However, with only half of the Smithtown property-tax dollars allotted for law enforcement actually getting back to the police force that keeps Smithtown safe, it is only logical that it would become less safe in time. Hence the heroin in its schools and the drug related violence on its streets. It stands to reason that, sooner or later, this rise in crime will create a drastic drop in the value of Smithtown’s homes. Less value in properties will necessitate fewer taxes collected for the county and of course, less revenue for the Suffolk County Police department. In the end, all of Suffolk County loses as a result of this type of wealth distribution. Only the County Executive has the power to stop it.
Steve Levy owes it not just to Smithtown, but to the county as a whole, to insure that each township receives back in benefits at least a fair share of what it pays for that purpose. Anything else is not only irresponsible but proves detrimental to the entire region.
Certain towns generate more revenue because they have more to offer. If they are not permitted to reap their due benefits from that revenue then, eventually, their ability to raise it will cease. The County government should embrace and foster its more affluent towns and encourage others to emulate their success. What it’s doing now is the antithesis of that; plunging successful towns down while merely maintaining the status quo for the rest. Of course, these are the ways of big government. Common sense rarely applies and the red tape runs rampant. Smithtown, by law, is “irrevocably bound” to the Suffolk County Charter and in most respects it ought to be. But the colossal bureaucracy that the county government wields, if not checked, will readily run afoul. All Smithtown can really ask for is a chance to extradite itself from those big-government handcuffs and to be giv