Serving New Hyde Park, North New Hyde Park, Herricks, Garden City Park, Manhasset Hills, North Hills, Floral Park
$1
Friday, June 10, 2016
Vol. 65, No. 24
N E W H Y D E PA R K
CITY PROJECTS FOCUS OF PHOTO EXHIBIT
NORTHWELL MOVES HQ TO NHP
KAIMAN PICKS UP ENDORSEMENT
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Water rates rise again as fixes continue
TA K I N G A R I D E
Water authority implements system charging more for increased use B y N oah M anskar Customers of the Water Authority of Western Nassau County will see their water bills rise again in the coming year to continue funding $55 million worth of infrastructure updates. “Things cost money, and we’ve done major improvements,” said Marianna Wohlgemuth, New Hyde Park’s representative on the water authority’s nine-member Board of Directors. The board voted May 23 to raise rates by 9.4 percent overall, with residential customers seeing a 4.1 percent hike while the $936 annual charge for fire hydrants will stay flat for the second straight year, the authority announced last Friday. The new rate scheme, which took effect June 1, will charge customers a higher rate for using more water to encourage conservation, as recommended by a water rate study released in September, Superintendent Mick Tierney
said. The average resident’s water bill will increase to $466 from $440, the water authority said in a news release. The increase for commercial users depends on the size of their meter, but will rise $2,293 from $1,832 on average. Residents and businesses will pay a higher rate after they use more than 144,000 gallons, as the rate study recommended. The change will hit the water authority’s largest commercial users hardest, including Belmont Park in Elmont and Franklin Hospital Medical Center in Franklin Square, Tierney said. But encouraging water conservation will likely cut the water authority’s maintenance costs, as a larger volume of water puts more strain on its infrastructure, he said. “If we can get people to have a much more conscientious view toward using the water — in other words, don’t go out every other day and wash down your driveContinued on Page 56
(C)2016 MARTHA GORFEIN PHOTOCONCEPTS/www.mgphotoconcepts.com
The Herricks Community Fund kicked off summer with its annual Herricks Carnival, held June 2 to June 5 at the Herricks Community Center in New Hyde Park.
DeMartin slams town after leaving Assembly race B y J oe N ikic Former Town of North Hempstead Public Safety Commissioner Andrew DeMartin bowed out of the race for outgoing Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel’s 16th Assembly
District seat on Monday, but he didn’t do so quietly. In a sit-down interview with Blank Slate Media, DeMartin questioned the motives of the Democratic Party in selecting Anthony D’Urso as its candidate for the seat and
slammed the town’s administration for how it operates. “It’s unfortunate that the misguided and self-serving priorities of party politics would be the catalyst for the Democratic Party’s endorsement of a Continued on Page 56
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