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«-«•»•* g CM I •8 CO I ^ ; . y Editorials • Viewpoints • Comments Higher Budgets The proposed Village of Farmingdale annual budget recently unveiled shows the problems that we all face in our own household budgets. We need more money just to remain where we are and retain the status quo. The new village budget calls for a thirty-five cent per hundred dollars of assessed valuation increase over the previous year's budget. This amounts to $21 per year for the average village house assessed at $6,000. This tax increase, however, does not indicate ad- ditional spending for new services. It is the result of higher costs of the same services the village has been providing its residents for years. Until last year the village has-been using any possible budget surplus available to keep the tax rate down. Last year the surplus was used up to meet increasing costs. The main reasons for a tax increase in the village, in addition to the five percent increase in pay for village employees, are the tremendous increases in the costs for insurance, workman's compensation, power and light and fuel oil. As in our own budgets at home, the things that are increasing the most in price are the things that we can't cancel and do-without. ^SE£T\COLBY COMMENTS The arrival of warm, sunny days brings thoughts of picnics, ballgames and other enjoyable activities to the minds of thousands of residents who make use of Oyster Bay's parks each summer. The Town Department of Parks and Recreation began planning for the summer season even as we were experiencing the most severe winter in years, and is now well into a comprehensive program of preparing facilities and organizing activities for the months ahead. Priority is currently being given to the reconditioning of more than 50 ball diamonds and other playing fields throughout the Town as well as to renovation of backstops, dugouts and fences. Fertilizing, cultivation and other horticultural and beautifiCation activities are taking place throughout the 600 acres of parkland actively used by Oyster Bay residents. Parks and Recreation personnel are also in the process of painting, reconditioning equipment and developing daily operational plans as part of the Department's preparation of high quality park facilities and recreational programs for which Oyster Bay is noted. Scheduling of fields for more than 3,000 baseball and sof tball league players aged nine to adult who will utilize Town facilities on a daily basis now through September is already well underway. More than 300 applications have been received for the free golf instruction classes offered through the Department, and more than 400 persons have already registered for free tennis clinics. Swimming instruction at all levels of proficiency will again take place in each of the Town's four community parks; the popularity of this activity is evidenced through the fact that more than 4,800 Town residents of all ages received Red Cross Instruction last year through the Department's program. Another major undertaking conducted during the summer months is a directed recreational program which, in its eleventh year, will run Mondays through Fridays from July 5th through August 12th and will again include a wide variety of organized activities such as arts and crafts, sports and games, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten programs and special events such as track and field days, trips and much more. 'YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER\ - Established 1920- 51 Heisser Lane, Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735 Telephone: CHapel 9-0131 - 0170 Publisher Joseph Merendino Editor/Manager . Robert J. Starrett Production Mgr Steven Vid Published every Thursday by Farmingdale Post Division of Merlin. Printing Co., Inc. Jqseph Merendino, President; Steven Vid, Secretary-Treasurer COMPOSITION RESPONSIBILITY Thi» newspaper will not be liable foi errors, appearing in any advertising be- yond the cost of the space occupied by the error. By—Lined Articles & Columns are the sole opinions of the writers 8t do not necessarily represent views of the paper. Second Class Postage at Farmingdale Post Office. SUBSCRIPTION RATE: 1 YEAR $5.00 MEMBER; New York Press Assoc. MEMBER: Nassau County Press Assoc MEMBER: American Newspaper Repre sentative MEMBER: National Editorial Assoc. 'fyeTtttQ* By Ken Martin We offer our congratulations to all the officers who were elected these past two weeks. The Village F.D. elected Austin Purtill as Chief; Fred Gerhard, 1st Deputy Chief, William Merrins, 2nd Deputy, .Chief; Gene Sherman, Secretary and Sam Orobona as treasurer. Sam, (actually Severio) was also appointed a Fire Commissioner by Mayor Hallahan. Also elected were Captain, Kevin Blais; 1st Lieut., Dan' Schnitzler, 2nd Lieut., George Kuck and Ken Tortoso Chief Chauffeur of the Hook Ladder & Hose Co. No. 1 and Captain, Mike Kelly; 1st Lieut. Wm. Pullaro; 2nd Lieut. Dan Turner; and Chief Chauffeur Scott Gorman of the Water Witch Engine Co. No. 1. The East Farmingdale F.D. elected: Chief Joe McKnight, 1st Asst. Jack Myrato 2nd Asst. Shelly Fiedler, 3rd Asst. Nick Piccola, Capt. Sta. 1 Bob Kaufold Lieuts. Sta. 1 Tom Joseph & Tony Mirabella Capt. Sta. 2 Al Capone Lieuts. Sta. 2 Daye Flaim & Bill Ahem; Capt. Sta. , 3 Bill Stillwagon LieUts. Sta. 3. John Bevacqua & Steve Pfost. Chief Chauffeur Tom Crimi, Chief Mechanic Pat Walsh, Financial Sec. Herb Orban, Recording Sec. George Eidsettler Board of Directors Pres. George Messede^ Bruce Antonius, Lou Iuzzni, Vito Bruno, Phil Murtha. We would like to remind everyone that the brush fire season is upon us. The depart- ments out east have been running 10-12 hrs. a day with fires. Burning permits in Suffolk County have been prohibited. The brush in our area is very dry so we're asking everybody to be a little more cautious during the next month. The South Farmingdale F.D. Officers were announced in this paper last week. Congratulations are also due to the Water Witch Engine Co. No. l of the Village Department on their 89th anniversary and to Ex- Chief Ken Dillon of that company for having completed 25 years active service. Fire Calls for the Week Village of Farmingdale F.D. Rescue Calls Vehicles Buildings Brush Misc. Calls Total East Farmingdale F.D. Rescue Calls Vehicles Buildings Brush Misc. Calls Total • The Great Dictator Thursday April 28 will be a day for all who love eomedy to circle on their calendars. The Farmingdale Public Library will present \The Great Dictator,\ Charlie Chaplin's riotous comedy of Hitler and Nazi Germany at 7:30 p.m. The film reveals not only Chaplin's well known comedic talents but also his ability to blend satire and political argument. The film will be shown at the South Farmingdale Branch Library. From Assemblyman Philip Healey Added protection for utilities customers is written into a legislative package of four bills which has been introduced in the Assembly. The measures submitted would: e establish fair procedures fn determining back charges due to faulty metering service; • provide economic compensation for service interruptions; • provide for review and adjustment of electric rates to promote more efficient allocation of resources; and • limit customer deposit requirements by Utility companies. The first bill, would limit \back charging\ to consumers in the event of meter malfunction. In cases where a faulty meter registers less than the customer uses, the company would be allowed to charge for the amount used and not billed, but could not \charge back\ for more than the prior two months. The customer could pay back the charge in equal monthly installments over a period of a year. The measure would guard consumers against inordinate \back charges\ while at the same time protecting the rights of utilities to inspect and correct their faulty meters. The second bill requires utilities to give consumers two hours of credit, based on average daily rates, for each hour of service in- terruption. This measure represents an effort to provide consumers with some compensation for inconveniences frequently suffered by the in- terruption of vital services. While they must adhere to strict and often arbitrary rules in dealing with gas and electric companies, no penalties are levied against the utilities for power failures that cause customers such annoying, inconveniences as resetting thermostats and clocks and struggling with electrically-controlled garage doors which suddenly become inoperative. It is obvious that the present energy shortage emphasizes the need for adoption of measures to encourage conservation and efficient use of current supplies. Therefore, in the third of these four bills, it is proposed that legislation be enacted declaring, as state policy, that electric service rates should promote an efficient allocation of resources to discourage wasteful use of energy. To carry out that policy, the PublicService Commission would be directed to review the existing electric rates structure, provide necessary adjustments and prepare a plan for implementation of a peakload pricing system. A rate schedule would then be drawn to give consumers using electricity during off-peak hours, a discount from regularly established rates. ' A new pricing structure would induce industry and small consumers to stagger their hours of electric consumption, resulting in maximum use of generating plants and eliminating the need for expansion that is costly to consumers and harmful to the environment. Finally, legislation would limit deposit requirements for credit- worthy utility consumers in a move to ease the growing burden of utility costs. Under this measure, all consumers would be exempted from paying deposits to a gas or electric company unless the company could show that the subscriber is a bad risk. The proposed legislation provides that once service has begun, a deposit may not be required unless a customer's bill is 60 days or more in arrears. The Public Service Commission is also charged with reviewing the cash-deposit requirement of all electric and gas companies to establish regulations requiring the refund of deposits currently held from qualified subscribers. Dear Mr. Starrett: Our Founding Fathers' Republic form of government has digressed into a democracy and the following 200 year old war- ning is being ignored- \A democracy cannot exist as a permanent,, form of govern- ment. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a dictatorship.\ It can and will happen here unless we elect representatives who believe as Dr. Milton Friedman, the Nobel Prize Winner in Economics, does that the Federal Budget should be reduced by 10% across the board this year and every year thereafter. Sincerely, /s/Francis A. Collins. Dear Editor: I would like to extend my thanks to all the members of the Farmingdale Public Library Board of Trustees for appointing me,to the Board on April 12,1977-. As a Farmingdale High School graduate, who has lived, in Farmingdale for the past four years, I am excited and en- thusiastic about the appointment and look forward to serving the community hvthis capacity. Presently, I am pursuing ji BA. in Education and I am employed at Hofstra University as a Student Personnel Ad- ministrator.' I look forward to the op- portunity and welcome input from the citizens of our com- munity in maintaining a mgn quality of library services. Sincerely yours, /s/EdwardA.Lynch No community will grow and develop when its peo- ple arc envious of each other.
