Politics First

Partisanship is an infectious disease, and it can be difficult to keep the noxious elements of national politics from spreading like a virus into local legislatures. But they’re not immune, and the Suffolk County Legislature has all the symptoms of putting politics before policy — and the citizens of the county paying the price.

There is no more bipartisan issue than water quality. Republican and Democrat alike will campaign on the issue this fall, when all 17 seats on the County Legislature are up — put a pin in that for a paragraph or two — and it will be difficult to distinguish a candidate’s party affiliation from his or her message. Which is as it should be.

However, it was the Republican majority in the legislature that killed the Suffolk County Water Quality Protection Act, which would have put a referendum before voters this fall to add 1/8 of a cent to the county’s sales tax, with the money earmarked for new sewers and innovative/alternative septic systems. That tiny tally, just $1.25 on every $1,000 spent by consumers, is expected to amass some $3.1 billion between 2024 to 2060 to address the region’s biggest environmental problem. Voters seem ready, even eager, to sign off.

Make that start date 2025, at the earliest. The legislature tabled the measure needlessly, which will take it out of consideration for the November ballot. It’ll cost the program a full year of revenue, and a year of actively installing new sewers and I/A systems throughout the county.

Why the delay? It’s a matter of opinion, of course. But the measure is widely popular, and even the GOP legislators say they’ll support it — eventually. Why not now? For such a bipartisan measure, it is full of divisive energy.

Bridget Fleming, who represents the South Fork as a Democrat, is probably right that the motivating factor was the aforementioned 17 legislature seats that are up this November. A water quality measure would bring out droves of environment-minded Democrats — which might not be advantageous for Republican candidates, since there still are voters who look at party registration before individuals, even at the county level.

There’s also an east-vs.-west issue that’s hardly new in Suffolk County. This time, it’s the fact that most of the money would be earmarked for I/A systems for individual properties in less densely developed areas — to the east, primarily — rather than sewers. That’s sensible, considering the nature of pollutants and the way development has unfolded, but it has given the west-heavy legislature a reason to hesitate. (Sewers are also more likely to spur new development, by design; make of that what you will.)

As Bob DeLuca of the Group for the East End put it, the legislature “punted” on a measure that would have “created a stable and recurring revenue source” to address water quality in a significant, meaningful way. That’s on its 10 Republican legislators — and county residents shouldn’t forget that when they vote this fall. Whatever support those GOP candidates voice for clean water and funding for septics, they have to answer a simple question: Can we really afford to lose a year?