Thursday, March 20, 2025 ~ Volume 137 ~ Issue Number 18 ~ $1.00
‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan Rips New York Sanctuary Policies By Raheem Soto
Border Czar Tom Homan (left) and Assemblyman Jarett Gandolfo (right) (Credit - Office NYS Assemblyman Gandolfo)
If there’s one thing Tom Homan doesn’t do, it’s sugar-coat. The former Acting ICE Director was in Albany recently, and he made it crystal clear—he’s had enough of the state’s sanctuary policies and the chaos they’ve created. Standing alongside Republican lawmakers, Homan delivered a blistering critique of policies that he said are making New Yorkers less safe. “These men and women standing behind the wire with some of the most dangerous people in this state should be honored and respected for the difficult job they do every day,” Homan said, throwing his support behind correctional officers struggling under the weight of a migrant crisis that’s only getting worse. Continued on page 4
Wehrheim Retains Smithtown’s Aaa Bond Rating By Matt Meduri
The favorable bond rating is one of the most powerful - if not the most powerful - tool a municipality can acquire. Bonding is the credit rating for a municipality. A lower rating means a higher interest rate when the constituency bonds out for projects. A higher rating means the municipality can bond out projects for essentially pennies on the dollar in terms of interest. Now, in 2025, just a few months after Smithtown remained just one of two Suffolk towns - the other being Huntington - to not pierce their tax cap, the Town has officially retained its coveted top-shelf bond rating from Moody’s. The feat can be credited to the fiscal responsibility and navigation of a barrage of unfunded State mandates from Albany affecting municipalities across the state to Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R-Kings Park), first elected in 2017 and re-elected in 2021. Wehrheim is on the ballot again this November. Continued on page 10
FULL FULLSTORIES STORIESON: ON:
In Memoriam: Larry Penner Page 5
Smithtown Legislators for a Day Page 15
Hoyt Farm’s Bird and Bat Houses Page 22