The following was submitted by William R. Spencer, who represents the 18th Legislative District.

Fighting to get our fair share of resources in the 18th legislative district (LD) is a high priority of mine. With four Incorporated Villages within the 18th LD, all charged with maintaining their own police forces outside the Suffolk County Police Department, I have been pushing to secure an appropriation of our sales tax for our local village police departments. It’s an issue of fairness, plain and simple. If we are all contributing toward the revenues generated from our sales tax, then all police departments within Suffolk County are entitled to a portion of those funds.

With my colleagues, Presiding Office DuWayne Gregory and Legislator Schneiderman, both very vocal on bringing local village police departments their fair share, we have been successful in working with County Executive Steve Bellone on a new agreement that will bring in over $100,000 to the local police department within 18th LD. Over the next three years, an additional $6 million will be dedicated to police districts that serve the community outside of the jurisdiction of the Suffolk County Police Department.

I am thankful to my colleagues for their leadership on this issue and I am confident we can move forward with an official policy that will maintain fair revenue sharing among all police districts in our county. It is only fair.