Whether one was on the scene in Riverheard, or catching a glimpse in passing on the News12 Long Island live broadcast frozen onto their local 7/11’s TV screen, the citizens of Suffolk County felt its leader speaking directly to them on Tuesday, April 8th.
At 2:00 that afternoon, longtime legislator turned Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, of Center Moriches, spoke before the Suffolk County Legislature—and the county at large.
The Republican representative took the time to salute his fellow leaders and doting team-members, highlight their successes and also acknowledge the progress still needed in some notable areas.
On County Services, Romaine mentioned that—while the County boasts its addition of 220 police officers, they also regret to recognize they are due to lose quite a few due to retirement in the near future.
Nonetheless, it’s the impressive and tireless work of recently-formed collectives such as the Street Takeover Task Force that have helped combat a rise in street crime, and therefore protect local police brasses from prematurely losing one of their own.
A prime example of such is the plight of Officer Brendon Gallagher, whose near-fatal incident with a reckless speedster on the Long Island Expressway in January inspired a series of unified pleas from local leaders—Romaine amongst them—upwards to Albany for increased bail reform at once.
Romaine also mirrored District Attorney Ray Tierney in signaling a desire to allocate funds to County agencies keen on attacking the ongoing opioid crisis.
“When you’re a legislator, you’re the only voice the communities you represent have in government,” Romaine said.
In speaking on the good–but not great—financial state of Suffolk, Romaine vowed to “come back with even better news next year.” He also recapped that eight of 10 towns in Suffolk County pierced the tax caps, and that major townships like Smithtown and Huntington did not.
Suffolk as a whole did not either, and “will not pierce the tax cap as long as I’m County Executive,” he asserted.
Many of the financial lawsuits Suffolk County has been slapped with during Romaine’s tenure are Bellone administration byproducts. On the same token, Cybersecurity reform has become an utmost priority of Romaine’s due to vulnerabilities that were exposed in the final sprint of his predecessor’s last term.
“The previous administration, before they left, spent about $27 million” in recovery efforts, Romaine reflected.
This week, he confidently reminded the Legislature how he cleaned up one gargantuan mess to inherit: overseeing successful partnerships with both the Department of Homeland Security and the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency.
Romaine also outlined his vision to invest nearly $1 billion in sewers in Kings Park, Smithtown, Oakdale, South Huntington and Mastic Beach, and his commitment to fighting contaminated waters.
“For every dollar we invest as a county, invest in Suffolk from the Environmental Bond Act,” he added. “I’ll direct all that money to sewers.”