Peconic Bill Is Offered

Legislation that would allow a binding referendum on the creation of Peconic County from the five End End towns was filed last week in the State Assembly by Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. of Noyac. Mr. Thiele said the bill was a "comprehensive" measure on the establishment of new counties drafted "not only by myself but by numerous municipal attorneys and bond counsels."

Also last week, Peconic County Now Inc., the entity created to lead the fight for Peconic County, reached out to State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, asking for a meeting to "personally discuss this issue and hopefully set in motion the legislative procedure that will result in a state-sanctioned binding vote on Peconic County."

Open Mind?

Last year, Mr. Silver blocked legislation providing for a binding referendum on Peconic County from being voted upon by the State Assembly, even though the bill was overwhelmingly passed in the State Senate. The Manhattan Democrat reportedly was concerned about setting a precedent for the secession of Staten Island from New York City, which he opposes.

However, Mr. Thiele is hopeful that Mr. Silver now has a more "open mind" on Peconic in the wake of two recent developments. First, the Staten Island effort has been stymied by a recent court ruling that a "home rule" message from the City Council approving its secession was necessary. Second, a permissive referendum on Peconic County in November showed that East Enders overwhelmingly endorsed it, 71 to 29 percent.

Uniform Procedure

The new Peconic County legislation seeks to get around the home rule issue by creating a new, uniform procedure for the creation of new counties in the state. There is now no such procedure, said Mr. Thiele. Counties have been created in an ad hoc fashion heretofore.

Further, to allay any concerns that the new law might encourage an explosion of new counties, it sets several threshold requirements, including minimum population and size, a petition and referendum process, and a state-authorized or funded economic feasibility study.

New York State joined with the East End towns in funding such a feasibility study for Peconic County, completed in 1995 by Public Financial Management Inc. of Philadelphia. It found that secession would be economically advantageous to East End residents -resulting in an average saving of $250 per taxpayer.

A memorandum accompanying the legislation notes that "there exists a great deal of uncertainty regarding legal issues relating to the creation of new counties. This legislation would eliminate this uncertainty." The proposed law closely mirrors existing state law relating to the creation of new villages and towns.

Requirements

The bill sets the following requirements for new counties:

A minimum population of 75,000;

A minimum area of 250 square miles;

A feasibility study either authorized or at least partly paid for by the State of New York "to insure that petitioners and subsequently voters in a proposed county will have the information necessary to make an informed decision."

A petition and referendum process whereby 1) a petition with the signatures of at least l0 percent of the number of people voting in the last gubernatorial election in the area seeking to become a county would be submitted and 2) a binding referendum would be held at the next general election.

The proposed Peconic County, of course, already meets the first three criteria.

The bill includes a "sunset provision" under which the law would expire at the end of the year 2005 to "allow these uniform procedures to be reevaluated."

The legislation provides for the division of assets and liabilities between the existing county and the area seeking to break away from it, following a formula that New York State uses for "municipal annexation." Unless it was "agreed otherwise, all property would become the property of the county in which it is located."

Meeting Sought

The letter from the Peconic County Now board of directors to Mr. Silver, signed by 17 people, says: "We support a referendum on Peconic County because home rule is the best way to protect the unique rural character of life on eastern Long Island from the suburban sprawl that has overtaken the rest of Long Island, and to maintain the area's traditional economic bases of agriculture, fishing, tourism, second homes and small businesses." The board asks to meet with Mr. Silver in Albany to discuss the issue.

The signers of the letter include East Hampton Village Administrator Larry Cantwell, president of Peconic County Now; James Daly, its secretary; Russell Stein, a former East Hampton Town Attorney; Shelter Island Supervisor Huson (Hoot) Sherman; Quogue Mayor Thelma Georgeson; Hal Ross, a political adviser to Southampton Town; former Southold Town Supervisor Thomas Wickham, and Mr. Thiele.