Our Next Meeting Date is Wednesday May 15th, 2019 at 7:30 P.M.
Location: Mario’s Pizza of Commack
17 Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, Commack
The Intersection of Route Commack Road and Motor Parkway
Please plan to join us Wednesday May 15 to hear from Mrs. Stacy Colamussi the Republican candidate for Receiver of Taxes for the Town of Huntington. Presently, Mrs. Colamussi is the Deputy Town Clerk for Huntington. She will be discussing the statutory duties of the Received of Taxes and what she plans to bring to the office.
Club Notes and Announcements
We thank Mr. Steve Levy President of the Center for Cost Effective Government (CCEG) for speaking at our April meeting. The Center for Cost Effective Government is a group of government savvy community leaders who will expose inefficiency in government and empower the public to take the legal and logistical steps necessary to implement the solutions promulgated by government reform think tanks.
The Center is dedicated toward the goal of promoting efficiencies through consolidating districts, pooling purchases and services, enhancing academic standards, reforming burdensome pension and workers’ compensation rules, and building public-private partnerships.
Mr. Levy said that the inefficiency of both State and local government places a real burden on residence. He said a study done in 1990 by the Long Island Association said 77% of Long Islanders considered themselves middle class. In 2014 a similar study said only 57% now consider themselves middle class.
Mr. Levy discussed areas identified by the CCEG as ineffective and as inefficient use of government funds. At the State level they include a $175 billion state budget. New York has 19 million residents. Florida, with 21+ million residents, has a $90 billion budget. Texas with $27 million residents has a $90 billion budget. This shows New York has a spending problem not a revenue problem.
For example, the MTA spent $800 million on their headquarters. It costs the MTA $2.7 billion to build a mile of subway. In Atlanta a mile of subway costs $120 million. The new MTA labor contract provides for a 17% raise over 6 years yet did not get any appreciable cost savings to offset the additional costs. Yet New York wants to implement congestion pricing for NY City with the money going to the MTA. There is an MTA commuter tax, all the people who live or work in the ten counties in and around New York City, even if they don’t use any MTA service. These MTA taxes on residents in the 10 counties was over $2.5 billion last year.
RONALD REAGAN REPUBLICAN CLUB
May 2019 NEWSLETTER
Suffolk county is in poor fiscal shape. During Steve Bellone’s tenure the county bond rating was lowered 7 times due to poor fiscal leadership. During Steve Levy’s tenure as County executive the Suffolk bond rating was raised 7 consecutive times. This shows what good fiscal management can do. IT is not a revenue problem , it is a spending problem.
Mr. Levy attributed the current gang problem in Suffolk to Federal immigration policy as well as the Bellone Administration refusal to work and cooperate with the FBI, resulting in the murder of 20 kids.
Mr. Levy did discuss several good changes in the legislation that make it a bit easier to live in ?New York. Mr. Levey is now a writer for both FoxNews.com and NewsMax.com
Please check the CCEG website at https://www.centerforcosteffectivegovernment.org/
The Club is grateful to Mr. Levy for the interesting and lively discussion.
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Thank you to all those that made this year’s Gipper Award dinner a success.
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Thank you
The Ronald Reagan Republican Club is grateful to Mario’s Pizza, a longtime supporter of the Club, to allow the Club an alternate location for our meetings.
Our Executive Board for 2018-2019: President- Joseph Soulier First VP- Joe Caruso Second VP – Helen Keller Recording Sec. – Phil Byler Treasurer- Jim Leonick Corresp. Sec. Peter Kelly Trustee- Bob Savitz Trustee- Charles Caserta Trustee- Grace Colucci Sgt. at Arms- Karen Alu
Please give us any comments you may have about our monthly meetings. We value any comments as they can help us serve the membership better.
Please plan to join us at our monthly meetings held on the third Wednesday of the month. Please feel free to contact me (Peter Kelly) at 516-319-4467 should you have any comments or questions.
