Levy Addresses MacArthur Business Alliance

Returning to his roots, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy was the honorary guest of the Macarthur Business Alliance's November meeting at the Courtyard Marriot in Ronkonkoma, Wednesday evening.

Addressing a crowd of roughly 30 local businessmen and businesswomen of the Macarthur Business Alliance (MBA), Levy, a 1977 Sachem High School graduate with former classmates in attendance, delivered a 40-minute speech touching on some of his past accomplishments, as well as his take on measures to make Suffolk a more business-friendly county. 

"We have to develop and we have to preserve," Levy said, "and we can do both."

After a brief introduction by current MBA president Denise T. Schwarz, the county executive took the podium emphasizing his seven-year record of a zero-percent general tax increase at the county level. Coming a day after he , Levy noted that keeping such a tight belt comes with the cost of have to make unfavorable decisions. Like the actions of government to keep the burden on taxpayers down, Levy said the expansion of business does the same.

"When you can expand business," Levy began, "you get more money coming into the government coffers and you avoid taking from the tax payers."

Recently, though, Levy noted that building the government coffers through business expansion has been hindered due to the elimination of the Empire Zones program by the state in June, as well as by the MTA tax established as part of the MTA bailout bill in May of 2009. In the face of both deterrents, Levy encouraged the crowd to write to their local representatives to: (1) erase the MTA tax, and (2) to ask for the Empire Zones programs back. 

Looking on the lighter side, Levy spoke of the attractiveness that Suffolk County offers as both a place of development and one of land preservation. Locally, Levy said the access to the train station is a "recipe for growth" in Ronkonkoma. Two main ingredients to that growth, not just locally but in the county, is the expansion of infrastructure and the expansion of sewers, the latter of which Levy said has seen more than a $200 million devotion  since he took office in 2004.

Several areas of expected growth were highlighted by Levy in his speech, including the Route 110 Corridor, the planned affordable housing project at the Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center in Brentwood, as well as the zero-carbon alternative energy solar park expected to be constructed in Yaphank. Locally, he spoke regarding the derelict Bavarian Inn restaurant on the shores of Lake Ronkonkoma when asked about the site by Walter Poggi, a local resident and president of Retlif Testing Laboratories. 

Levy noted two possible outcomes of the site. The first being the event that the owner of the now defunct restaurant stops paying taxes the county would then obtain the site for free. The second outcome rested on the possibility of the federal government stepping in and providing a grant for the county to take over the site. 

"Somewhere there will be light at the end of the tunnel," he said. 

The MBA, one of the largest trade association groups on Long Island, meets monthly while Levy addresses the group annually. 

"This is like our own  State of the County address," MBA Director Michael Griffin said. "This group is very supportive of him and he is very supportive of us."