Serving Port Washington, Manorhaven, Flower Hill, Baxter Estates, Port Washington North and Sands Point
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Friday, September 7, 2018
Vol. 3, No. 36
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PORT MAN KILLED IN CUOMO, NIXON FACE APPARENT DROWNING OFF AT HOFSTRA
PAGES 33-40
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Sands Point municipal pay is top in state
L A B O R D AY F L A G S
Kings Point, Old Westbury have highest average salary for police BY LU K E TOR R A N C E The two police departments with the highest average pay in the state of New York are both on the North Shore. Police officers in the Village of Kings Point averaged $223,995 in salary this year, followed closely by the Village of Old Westbury with an average of $211,033, according to a recent report from the Empire Center for Public Policy. Among nonuniformed employees, Sands Point had the highest average salary at $97,468. The Kings Point and Old Westbury departments were the only two police departments in the state —" including cities," towns, counties and other villages — with an average pay over $200,000. Village police departments, with their smaller staffs (Kings Point has 20 employees, Old Westbury has 26), tend to have higher payrolls than the larger county and city departments.
Another North Shore village, Lake Success, cracked the top five for pay in New York villages with an average salary of $172,234. Average pay for the Kings Point police was up about $3,000 from last year, according to the report, but Old Westbury jumped by more than $40,000 and moved from the fifth-highest pay to second highest. George Banville, the commissioner of the Kings Point Police Department, said he understands why someone might have a “kneejerk reaction” to the salaries. The number is “correct but it’s not correct” because it includes overtime and cash payouts on top of base pay, he said, and the department has been “short staffed” with 20 officers compared with the normal 24. “That thing they’re referring to is plus overtime and other additions to their regular salary,” Banville said. Continued on Page 59
PHOTO COURTESY OF TRICIA O’DONNELL
Members of the Heroes Club at Paul D. Schreiber High School put up American flags in Port Washington over Labor Day weekend.
Teens slain by MS-13 gang inspire Gift of Life for kids BY JA N E LL E CL AUSEN Ricardo Adonay Murga, a toddler in a striped shirt from El Salvador, babbles with life on a projected screen in an au-
ditorium. He taps his mother’s hand and squirms in his older sister’s arms, all but jumping between their laps. The boy’s voice sometimes dominates the room too. Just a few months ago
though, family members and doctors said, Ricardo struggled because of a heart defect they couldn’t afford to treat. He weighed only six pounds as a 1-year-old. He couldn’t walk. Continued on Page 59
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