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April 26, 2001

Democrats call on state for traffic agency reform

Mineola, NY - Citing millions of dollars in lost revenue and a patronage-plagued system of mismanagement, members of the Democratic caucus of the Nassau County Legislature called on state lawmakers today to amend the law governing the county's troubled Traffic and Parking Violations Agency (TPVA) to give administrative oversight to the County Executive and County Legislature.

Joined at a press conference by State Assemblymen Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) and Thomas DiNapoli (D-Great Neck), Democratic lawmakers said there are chronic problems within the Traffic and Parking Violations Agency that require immediate attention. "Systematic flaws in TPVA have crippled the county agency since its inception in 1994," said Assemblyman Weisenberg.

According to members of the Democratic majority, who made the overhaul of TPVA a priority in their 2001 agenda, "TPVA is a classic example of what can occur when there are no checks and balances. There is no direct control over the agency and therefore, no accountability. The agency has been permitted to operate without direction. Everyone is pointing fingers at each other while the county continues to lose millions in revenue and the agency flounders, creating a tremendous backlog in processing tickets. We can't keep throwing money at a problem without addressing the deeper issue, and that is operation of the agency."

The state legislative proposal, which is being introduced by Assemblymen Weisenberg, DiNapoli, David Sidikman (D-Plainview), and Earlene Hooper (D-Hempstead), calls for three changes to the current law:

it puts the agency under direct control of the County Executive and the County Legislature, giving the County Executive the power to appoint the agency's Executive Director subject to legislative approval;
it gives selection of agency prosecutors to the Executive Director, thereby giving much needed administrative oversight to the legal staff;
it requires the Executive Director to submit performance reports to all three branches of the state government, the County Executive, the County Legislature, the Administrative Judge of Nassau County, the Nassau County District Court Board of Judges, the County Comptroller and the County District Attorney.

"The goal of this legislation is to fix the systematic problems in the agency and create a direct line of oversight by the County, thereby putting an end to the back door politics that have plagued the agency all along," said Assemblyman DiNapoli.

A hearing held on December 6, 2000, by Legislator Joseph Scannell, Chairman of the Public Safety Committee, uncovered ongoing problems within TPVA. Testimony from several officials, including TPVA's Executive Director Thomas Carroll documented that millions of dollars in county revenue was going uncollected and oversight of the agency was non-existent. As a result, Legislator Scannell was joined by District Court Judge Jon Kaiman in filing a lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of the agency, and thereby its existence. The lawsuit is still pending.

TPVA is an anomaly; the only local traffic agency in the state not operated by the Department of Motor Vehicles. The idea behind its creation was that having a county-run agency would allow Nassau to keep a greater portion of the ticket revenues while providing due process to those charged with parking or traffic violations.

A five-member Traffic Prosecutor Selection and Oversight Panel, appointed by the Administrative Judge, the Presiding Judge of County District Court and the 26-member District Court Board of Judges, is currently charged with the selection, appointment, oversight and administration of the traffic prosecutors; and the selection and hiring of the Executive Director of the agency, who is supposed to be responsible for its oversight and administration. The five-member panel is chaired by Eugene L. Weisbein, and its members are Bruce Bergman, Hon. Patricia Collins, Hon. M. Arthur Eiberson, and Ronald Levinson, all attorneys or former judges.

While Chairman Weisbein has been quoted as saying the Panel has no daily oversight of the agency and the Board of Judges has no day-to-day responsibility for the agency, problems continued to mount. On December 7, 2000, Legislator Scannell, called for Thomas Carroll's replacement as Executive Director of TPVA.

At this time, there is approximately $21 million in outstanding fines and nonrecoverable revenues from parking and traffic violations. "The agency is broken. We can still afford due process, get rid of the backlog and produce a profit, but we need to fix some basic problems. This legislation will put in place the framework for the agency to work effectively and efficiently," said Legislator Patrick Williams (D-Uniondale).