Anthony J. Santino

Santino said he has cut spending significantly during his tenure as supervisor and has put together the first structurally balanced budgets in two decades. “We’re getting results for taxpayers with very tight fiscal management, using innovation and strict management to lower costs,” he said. “I’m trying to maximize efficiencies and cut costs.” Santino said he has worked to run the town as if it were a business and tried to restore its fiscal stability after years of using the surplus to fund operations. If elected, he said, he would continue to build up the town’s surplus, as well as invest more money than the current $25 million allocated for the repair and maintenance of the town’s 1,200 miles of roads. “That’s something you can’t put off forever,” he said, noting the current funding level is “clearly not enough.” He said he would also continue efforts to make the town more “user-friendly” for residents, and especially wants to streamline processes in the building department with its new “express window” for permits.

Santino, 56, of East Rockaway, is running on the Republican, Conservative, Independence, Reform and Tax Revolt lines. He was elected town supervisor in 2015 after serving as a town councilman since 1993. In 1983, he was elected an East Rockaway village trustee and served two terms, including two years as deputy mayor. He was Hempstead Town’s director of communications from 1978 to 1993. He has also been a spokesman for Nassau County GOP leader Joseph Mondello. Santino has a bachelor’s degree in history from St. Joseph’s University. He is single and has no children.