Janet L. Heller-Smitelli

Janet L. Smitelli

Republican

BACKGROUND: Smitelli, 57, of Huntington, a Republican, also is running on the Conservative, Independence and Reform party lines. She is seeking to fill the one-year remaining on Ester Bivona's four-year term. Bivona retired in November 2017. Smitelli ran in a special election in April 2018 for state Assembly in District 10, and also ran for Suffolk Legislature in 2015. Smitelli is a lawyer with a civil litigation background. She earned degrees in environmental science, Latin American studies and Spanish at SUNY Plattsburgh and earned her law degree at St. John’s University in Queens. Smitelli is active in Boy Scouts and has been an assistant Scout master for five years with Troop 34. She is married and has three children.

ISSUES: Her legal background and general understanding of accounting practices and tax principles gives her the right background for the job, she said. “I’m excited about this. I believe after prior runs I’ve found my place,” Smitelli said. “I’m hard working and I want to serve.” Her background in client contacts through her legal work gives her good experience, she said, and she would bring a fresh look to the office’s operation and be able to have a sympathetic ear for taxpayers. Smitelli said she would look at ways to improve the office’s efficiency, including the parking situation on tax days and whether more cashiers are needed, and see if it is financially feasible for the town to print its own bills and mail them from in-house. She also would look at the rate of credit fees the town gets from different credit cards for those charging their tax payments. “Customer service and efficiency are key. That’s what we want, and we answer to the public,” she said.