W-S Superintendents Meeting w/Mangano

[Chris_Wendt]

There was reportedly a private (secretive) meeting among the Superintendents of Wantagh and Seaford school districts and County Executive Mangano at 2:00 PM yesterday at the county seat in Mineola.

The subject was supposed to have been the privatization of the County's Cedar Creek sewage plant.

Well, what happened?

Ancillary question: the Cedar Creek Sewage Plant...in which school district does it officially lie? Anybody know? I thought/think it is Wantagh. Why am I asking?

Because if the plant is privatized, then one of the two school districts could receive a property tax windfall.

Chris Wendt

[lilly]

Acc to the Nassau Parks, Recreation and Museums website, Seaford is the mailing address for Cedar Creek Park.

That reminds me, which politician gave away the store tax revenue-wise for the failed Jones Beach catering hall? Wantagh is Jones Beach's mailing address.

[Chris_Wendt]

Thanks for the response. However, mailing address does not necessarily agree with the actual school district in which a property is found. For example, the Rosemary Kennedy Center's address is Wantagh 11793, but is clearly not in the Wantagh School District.

The proposed power plant at Cedar Creek would have been in the Wantagh SD.

The Jones Beach 'Trump' fiasco was signed-off by Parks Commissioner Bernadette Castro and Governor Pataki, but, was technically within the letter of the law that dates back many years prior. That is why Trump would never have to pay actual property taxes; but nothing prevented, nor would prevent (future tense) the state from exacting a PILOTs agreement from Trump in exchange for his permits. Jones Beach State Park, all of it, is within the Wantagh School District.

[Chris_Wendt]

A Seaford resident and spokesperson for the Cedar Creek Oversight Committee, Phillip Franco indicated after last evening's Seaford BoE meeting that "(the secret meeting with Mangano)...was discussed at the Seaford BOE meeting. The county did not want to release any more details at this time, however; they did agree that they would hold a meeting at the (Seaford) high school sometime in the future."

I responded (on Patch) as follows:

Chris Wendt
5:49am on Friday, November 4, 2011
So, the County Exec drags two school districts' Superintendents over to the county seat to tell them he doesn't want to release any details, but will have a meeting in the district(s) later?

Or, did he really get them in a room and dangle PILOTs in front of them to enlist their support for privatization? (He could not dangle property tax revenue for both districts as the Sewage Plant is only in one district, not both...I think Wantagh).

Not that Dr. Marsh and Brian Conboy could not handle such a meeting professionally, but, their job as Superintendents is to serve as the Educational Leaders of their districts. The subject of such a meeting, this topic (privatization of the Cedar Creek Sewage Plant), is not about education, but it is all about raw politics; politics as they relate to school districts is really the realm of the elected Boards of Education, not professional educators, in my opinion.

wantagh.patch.com/articles/rally-in-works-to-protest-proposed-cedar-creek-plant-privatization?ncid=following_comment

I presume Wantagh was represented?

Critical to this discussion will be a factual determination of in which school district (Wantagh or Seaford) the Cedar Creek Sewage Plant actually lies, then, if the prospect of property taxes for Wantagh is in the offing, how much money are we talking about? If they are thinking PILOTs, that would cut the money (tax windfall) in half, presuming a 50-50 split between Seaford and Wantagh.

You look at things differently when big money is involved; different still when less money, or no money is involved.

The Superintendents are NOT the correct people to be on the line with Mangano over this charged political issue, one which may have significant positive financial implications for one or both school districts. Neither are former employees of the Cedar Creek plant the right people to be watching out for the district's financial interests, here.

I would like to hear something from the Wantagh School District about yesterday's cabal in Mineola, presuming we were among the co-conspirators.

Chris Wendt