Village Wants to End 'Headquarters Tax' on Residents

The Village of Rockville Centre is protesting service cuts imposed by the Nassau County Police Department and is seeking the elimination of the county "headquarters tax" paid by its residents.

The headquarters tax accounts for about 40 percent of residents' total county tax bill, village officials said, and pays for when county police forces are called into the village for assistance. The village, which has its own police force, calls in the county in emergencies, for major crimes and when special services are needed, such as the police helicopter or the K-9 unit.

Village officials said they were recently informed that in addition to the roughly $6 million the village annually pays in headquarter taxes, the county is imposing a "pay-as-you-go" charge when the village requests county police patrol services. And this additional fee comes at a time when county police services are being drastically reduced.

Last year, village residents paid $6.1 million to the headquarters tax.

Mayor Francis Murray called the "pay-as-you-go" charges "grossly unfair" in a letter sent to Police Commissioner Thomas Dale. "If the county is going to reduce our services, then our residents are owed a reduction in their taxes," Murray said in the letter.

In his letter, Murray proposed the elimination of the headquarters tax in favor of a completely "pay-as-you-go" system for all county police services.

"We do not get $6 million worth of service from Nassau County," Murray added. "It is outrageous to add additional charges on top of what our residents already pay in taxes, at a time when the county has imposed across-the-board service cuts."

"We pay for services we never use, like the marine bureau," Murray noted. "We think the headquarters tax should be eliminated and we'll pay for county police services as we need them."