County Comptroller Auditing Oceanside Sanitation District

OCEANSIDE, NY — Oceanside's Sanitation District No. 7 has another challenge — Nassau County Comptroller Jack Schnirman announced that his office would be auditing the district, although he says it has nothing to do with the recent trouble there.

The sanitation district has been in the news recently after offensive Facebook posts purportedly made by Sanitation Commissioner Ryan Hemsley were released. Hemsley has denied making many of the posts — which were anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic and more — and has denied multiple calls to step down.

Schnirman said that over the last few years, his office has received multiple complaints about the sanitary district through a tip line. His office received pushback from the district about conducting an audit, but his office's power to do so was recently affirmed by a court decision, Schnirman said.

"Town of Hempstead Sanitary District No. 7 has been a lightning rod of controversy, but separate and apart from that, it is our responsibility to ensure that taxpayers best interests are at the forefront of their operations," Schnirman said. "We will not be shy in our inquiry and will look at both the performance and financial condition of the district."

Schnirman said that Hemsley's comments were not the subject of the audit, nor what spurred it to happen.

"While the commissioner's repugnant views are deeply disturbing, they are not the subject of this audit," he said. "If our audit uncovers that bias in any way impacted the delivery of services to residents or how the district did business, we will act on it."

Sanitary District 7 is one of five special sanitation districts within the Town of Hempstead. Though it falls within the borders of the town, it is independently run by its own Board of Commissioners. It exclusively serves the Oceanside community.