North Hempstead Democrat Council Member Veronica Lurvey says she believes her community advocacy and legal background make her the best candidate for town receiver of taxes in an interview with Blank Slate Media

Lurvey, of Great Neck, is currently finishing out her first four-year term on the North Hempstead Town Board after being elected in 2019. Due to redistricting, where North Hempstead finalized new maps last year, the council member, who currently represents the 4th Councilmanic District, would have to wait two years to run in District 5 if she wanted to continue serving on the Town Board. 

“I really believe in serving the community,” Lurvey said. “I want to continue to be involved and to serve and it would be an honor to be the receiver of taxes in the town of North Hempstead.”

Lurvey is being challenged by Mary Jo Collins, a Village of Flower Hill trustee running on the Republican and Conservative Party lines. 

Democrat Charles Berman, the town’s current receiver of taxes, is not seeking re-election after serving in the role since 2010. 

The North Hempstead receiver of taxes oversees the billing, collection, investment and distribution of taxes for the town and its municipalities, commissioner-operated special districts and school districts. 

One of Lurvey’s priorities, if elected, would be making the receiver’s office more accessible by extending office hours, enhancing the office’s online presence and adding an alert system. Additionally, Lurvey said she wants to expand workshops to educate residents and reach non-native English speakers, mobilize tax collection units to different neighborhoods in the town and implement accounting software with help the help of town staff. 

Turning to handling the money that comes into the office, Lurvey said she has experience with budgets both professionally and as a town board member.

Lurvey said the role acts as a watchdog to identify and fix problems in the bill collection and generating process from Nassau County and offers community engagement when needed to help residents with their tax bills. 

“I think it’s just a fact that when you’re dealing with 73,000 parcels that are taxable within the town, there will be a mistake made,” Lurvey said. “But how those mistakes are corrected and how they’re called out, how they are admitted to and the steps taken to fix them is something that the receiver of taxes has to take the lead on.”

Prior to serving on the Town Board, Lurvey was a member of the Village of Kensington Zoning Board of Appeals and co-founded North Shore Action, a nonpartisan group focused on social and community issues. 

Professionally, Lurvey was previously a corporate finance attorney for 13 years for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, which specializes in mergers and acquisitions. Lurvey said her time at Skadden, specifically overseeing transactions and leading a negotiating team of over 20 attorneys, gave her the necessary experience to oversee large amounts of money. 

“My work required a great deal of integrity and diligence, which is what you need for a receiver of taxes,” Lurvey said. “I know how to be careful with other people’s money and resources.”

Lurvey said as a council member she worked with Berman to bring tax grievance workshops to her district to assist residents who couldn’t access previous sessions because of language issues. Lurvey said she worked with the Great Neck Chinese Association to bring a translator for assistance and is something she would like to expand on if elected. 

Lurvey said the county’s assessment system is broken despite attempts by previous administrations to fix it. She added that when mistakes happen, they need to be called out and that she not only isn’t afraid to do so but has the expertise to act. 

“We need somebody in the receiver of taxes office who’s not afraid to take on issues in the Nassau County Assessor’s office and in the Nassau County Executive’s office,” Lurvey said. 

Earlier this year, Nassau County Acting Assessor Matthew Cronin resigned from his position to become the director of asset management for Suffolk County. In February, the Nassau County Legislature reversed an errant tax bill of $1.1 million wrongly sent to the Notre Dame Parish in New Hyde Park after the problem was reported months earlier. 

Lurvey said it’s important to work with the town’s comptroller’s office, which is responsible for the financial state of the town and can invest the town’s funds, when necessary.

She spoke about the recent controversy where Republican Supervisor Jennifer DeSena blamed her and Democrats for the sudden resignation of Comptroller Kristen Schwaner this summer. 

DeSena said Schwaner was repeatedly asked to change her opinion on using the investment firm NYCLASS by town Democrats and their staff. Lurvey said not taking advantage of lower interest rates was a “major oversight on the town side” and that she’s committed to the wellbeing of the town’s financial state even as a member of the town board.

“I think it shows how engaged I am in making sure the town’s funds, which include the receiver of taxes, are properly invested so that we get the return on every dollar,” Lurvey said. “Just like I want to make sure my own money is properly invested, I will make sure that every resident’s dollar is properly invested.”

She and other employees held a meeting with Schwaner to discuss NYCLASS. Lurvey defended having the meeting with Schwaner, calling DeSena’s characterization of events “misleading” and saying it was appropriate to discuss potential investments for the town with her. 

“I see no reason why I cannot meet with a department head to bring to their attention, potential investments that will make the town money,” Lurvey said. “That was the extent of my meeting. It was informational and for the benefit of the town and the town’s taxpayers.”

DeSena in a statement to Blank Slate Media again blamed Lurvey for the comptroller’s resignation, saying she is drawing out an unfortunate situation for political purposes.

“This is something that is inappropriate and something I have fought against from the beginning,” DeSena said of the broken chain of command at town hall. “The situation that arose with the Town Comptroller, where Councilwoman Lurvey directed Jeanine Dillon and Mitch Pitnick to pressure the Town Comptroller to alter her professional analysis on the merits of NYClass’ proposal in order to support her aspirations for higher political office is absolutely unacceptable and the chief contributing factor to our Comptroller’s resignation.”

Lurvey said DeSena has created an atmosphere in which department heads feel it is difficult to meet with town board members, calling it “an atmosphere of distrust.” However, the council member said if both are elected this November, she is willing to put their differences aside for the sake of the taxpayers. 

“We do not need the craziness of Washington, D.C., at town hall, but that is what we have had for the past two years under the supervisor’s administration,” Lurvey said. “I am 100% willing to wipe the slate clean and be an adult.”

Lurvey said she believes residents should vote for her instead of her opponent due to her experience of engaging the community and commitment to making the receiver of taxes office more accessible for residents. She added something she believes distinguishes her from her opponent Collins, which is their understanding of the position. 

“I question some of her literature where she says she will work with Supervisor DeSena to cut taxes,” Lurvey said. “She as receiver of taxes will have no vote on the budget. So when she says she will work to cut taxes, that is just something that she cannot deliver.”

Collins said in a statement to Blank Slate Media she is fully aware the receiver of taxes does not set policy and cannot make decisions on the town’s budget. The candidate added that a receiver of taxes who works “collaboratively and creatively” with the supervisor can effect change that results in lower taxes.

Collins provided examples of increasing efficiency in administrative systems on both the back and front end of receiving and processing taxes and upgrading communication and technological interfaces as changes that can lead to lower taxes.

“Having spent 40 years in the complex world of financial services, I have employed collaborative and creative strategies to add value to the client. In this case, the client is the taxpayer,” Collins said.

A previous version of this story was published. It has since been updated.