Ed Wehrheim Vs. Rob Trotta

Legislator Rob Trotta

Candidate: Legislator Rob Trotta
Residence: Fort Salonga
Position Sought: Smithtown Town Supervisor (Republican Primary)
Party Lines: None, running against Supervisor Ed Wehrheim for nomination
Endorsements: Nesconset Civic Association; my endorsement is from the people, the residents of Smithtown who want to keep Smithtown and not turn it into Queens or Nassau.

Candidate: Ed Wehrheim
Residence: Kings Park
Party Lines: Republican, Conservative
First Elected: 2018 (Supervisor)
Prior Elected Experience: Town Council (appointed in 2003), elected in 2003, re-elected in 2007, 2011, and 2015.
Notable Endorsements: Labor, Law Enforcement, Elected Officials

Q: What is your professional background and how does it equip you for Smithtown Town Supervisor?

A: There’s no one in the Legislature or the Supervisor’s office who is doing brain surgery. A lot of what goes on in government should be common sense, period. We shouldn’t have department heads driving leased Yukon Denali’s, costing the taxpayers. The higher-ups in the Parks Dept. all have these fancy cars. They’re all leased; I FOIL’d [Freedom of Information Law] it. They’re leasing them from Enterprise. The Parks Dept. Commissioner shouldn’t have his employees waxing and washing his car every Friday morning. Multiple employees have told me.

The County has a $4 billion budget. I’m the chair of the Ways & Means Committee, which watches over where and how the money is spent. While I don’t make the executive decisions, I see firsthand where there’s waste. $4 billion is a little bit more than $130 million [Smithtown’s budget].

Budgeting comes down to common sense. Everyone gets X amount of dollars and decisions are made as to where that money is used. While it’s great that Supervisor Wehrheim thinks the parks are an important feature, there’s no one ever at them. They spent $83M on parks, especially a lot of turf fields; they’re everywhere. Between 92-94% of the time, those fields are not in use. I got that number from an AI program, where you put in the data, such as the times of days, hours of peak usage, etc. Half the year, they’re not used at all. Keep in mind, Brady and Raynor Parks used to have night leagues. There’s no more leagues there. I don’t know the exact number, but let’s say if 100 teams were playing, now there’s 50. They’re not even using those two other fields. You wouldn’t even need Flynn. The fields are too short to be used for multi-day tournaments.

About a month ago, I went there because someone told me the field is too short. I walk up, the game is tied 4-4 in the fifth inning, with a guy on second base. The next pitch, the batter hits a home run out of the park. He drops the bat and walks off the field. The umpire told me you can only hit one home run per game per team. He said it was due to a combination of the new carbon fiber bats and the field length. The Town also made the fences way higher, especially in front of the scoreboard.

Right now, they’re not in use; all winter they’re not in use. The field at Brady Park has way less softball leagues than it used to. I would have spent $30M on the fields and put the rest of the money on the main streets to bury wires in Smithtown, St. James, and Kings Park. I would have purchased buildings in downtown Smithtown to create more municipal lots. There’s private lots that are chained off that you can’t park in. You’d have no wires. It would free up parking. Someone told me there’s only one sign that says, “Municipal parking this way.” I haven’t seen the sign, but there should be signs.

Look at Cold Spring Harbor; it’s a little town similar to Kings Park and St. James. There’s a parking lot there. People come in, park, spend some money for half-hour or so, and then go home. That should be done here. The parking is so horrible, they’ve [Smithtown] done nothing about it for twenty years. It’s the same thing in Kings Park across from Ciro’s. You could buy the laundromat, flatten it out, and make it parking. Restaurants would be full.

Q: The wires and poles belong to the carries and utilities, respectively. How would you move forward in burying the wires?

A: Very simple. Look at Farmingdale. Half the town is done and half isn’t. They’re doing the other half of the town starting in about a week. PSE&G doesn’t bury the lines; you hire the contractors to do it. Downtown Kings Park is 2/10 of a mile from Indian Head Road to Pulaski Road. The estimate to bury the wires there is $2 million.

Q: Rounding out twelve years in the County Legislature, what are some of your key accomplishments?

A: I purchased more open space than any other Legislator; we’re approaching 70 acres of land in Smithtown that will be preserved forever, such as 27 acres at Owl Hill and 15 acres in Head of the Harbor. The land will be preserved forever. If I am elected Supervisor, I will look at buying the Gyrodyne property and Bull Run Farm [both in St. James], partnering with the right people. Because the Town doesn’t have an open space preservation program, we’ve missed out with partnering with the County to buy these. I’ve also passed multiple bills securing funding for the sewers in Kings Park, another $500K for Pulaski Road.

I authored a bill that requires phones at hotels and other commercial spaces to dial 911 automatically, without having to dial out. I know someone whose daughter was murdered in a hotel in Texas. She tried to call 911 but had to dial out first. It passed here in Suffolk, it went through the State, and back in Donald Trump’s (R-FL) first term, I was invited for a bill signing. I couldn’t make it because I was on vacation, but I can’t think of another bill that started in Suffolk that ended up as a federal law.

Q: The Town does have an open space program. What are your grievances and how would you make it better?

A: It’s transfer-of-development rights. It provides higher density housing in other locations. It’s not an open space preservation program. If you donate a little piece of property, the Town will let you increase the density of your project. It’s a fallacy; he’s [Wehrheim] trying to use that as an open space preservation. He’s counting on people not knowing the facts. We can rebuild these downtowns with lower-density housing and condominiums. Who benefits from these apartment buildings? Developers. How did he get $400,000 in his campaign account? Follow the money. People like Toby Carlson, the Reliable Tree Service, Pioneer Paving, all these companies who have done work for the Town. I used to arrest people for this type of money laundering. I’m not saying it’s illegal, but it’s unethical.

As a Legislator, I put a bill in that said you cannot take any money from any union after a contract and you can’t knowingly take money from anyone doing business with the County. People who want or get something give politicians money. I’m not blaming Wehrheim for taking the money; it’s just the system. I try not to take similar monies. Sometimes people just send you checks, ironically. I got a check years ago and it happened to be from the Professors Guild of Suffolk Community College. I got criticized for taking the money. I didn’t know who they were. But it’s different when you’re getting money from Pioneer Paving and then you give them a $2 million contract.

The Charlie Reicherts of the world do good work; he’s an altruistic guy. Reichert gave me $15K-20K for my campaigns. The Vanderbilt Planetarium was named for him after he donated to it, and before I was a Legislator, not because I was a Legislator he donated to. He owns five supermarkets and two of them aren’t even making much money. His philosophy is community. He’s very quiet about it, and doesn’t want fanfare. He’s a very generous guy. I don’t know anyone in the world like this. I wish more people were more like him; I wish I was more like him. He’s never asking for anything.

The current Supervisor bought the site of the old gentleman’s club on the Nissequogue River. It looks better than it did, I’ll give him that. But he is not talking about the three- and four-story apartment buildings he’s approved in the Master Plan with underground parking. He hasn’t mentioned it.

Q: You’ve staked much of your campaign on overdevelopment. Can you point to some examples?

A: When Governor Hochul (D) was mandating that we build apartments near train stations, Wehrheim said it was crazy and that we wanted local control. Her mandate was 15 units per acre, based on how far a municipality is from a major transit hub. Right off the bat, the Town put 46 units on a half-acre with underground parking [the Tanzi Property in downtown Kings Park]. Almost ten times her mandate. The Board of Zoning Appeals approved the Tanzi Project, and Wehrheim calls it a “wonderful project.” It’s four feet away from a commercial property where they sand tombstones.

Wehrheim said at a January board meeting, “we’re going to do the same thing in St. James.”

I don’t even consider this an election; it’s a referendum. If people want these buildings in Smithtown, let them vote for it. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. If they want Smithtown to retain its character with low-density housing, then they can vote for me. I’ll put term limits in instantaneously as well.

Tritec is also gunning for a four-story apartment with underground parking in Smithtown right near my district office. I’m not totally against underground parking if it provides green space. If you’re going to get some green space, I could maybe swallow it. Underground parking in these situations is strictly to increase density.

52,000 people live within a two-mile radius of Kings Park; you have Fort Salonga, San Remo, Smithtown, and Commack. Don’t you think if you fix up Kings Park, people will now go there to eat and walk around? Putting apartment buildings with 200-300 people in them won’t have any effect on your downtown. Look at Islip or Cold Spring Harbor; no apartments. The Town also didn’t do parking correctly in St. James, very similar to Smithtown. If the Town would have gotten the owners together for a long parking lot, then when the sewers go in, we would already have the density to do that [downtown revitalization].

When I graduated from Commack High School in 1979, the Town’s population was 117,000 – the same as it is now. In 1979, 1,280 kids graduated from Commack; 410 graduated last year. Kings Park had 400 graduates in 1979; about 200 now. Smithtown had 1300-1400 graduates then; now it’s down to 600. It’s the same population, but it’s older. The kids are gone, so who’s going to live in the apartments? During COVID, all these people from Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau County moved to Suffolk. I can’t tell you how many new Long Islanders I meet when I knock doors. They don’t want the apartments. There’s way fewer kids.

This housing shortage we’re having now is probably a short-term problem. Once you build these apartment buildings, they could sit empty. The Lofts at Maple and Main are only about 65% full. Eventually, the single-family homes will open up.

Sewers are supposed to be about clean water and downtown revitalization. But the developers see it and they start salivating over high-density housing. Who gives politicians money? If I owned a business in Kings Park, I’d probably vote for Wehrheim, but the 200-300 extra people from Tanzi property wouldn’t have any effect on the town. The 52,000 in that two-mile radius are the older people with disposable income. Young people paying $3K per month in rent – such as at a Tanzi apartment – don’t have that. This is suburbia; this isn’t Queens.

Q: At the January board meeting, you were supportive of the Kings Park DRI plan. Has that opinion changed?

A: There’s nothing happening in Kings Park. The Town would rather spend $83M on turf fields with very few kids in the Town. It’s mismanaged. They’re talking about the Kings Park DRI, they’re not doing it. There’s $10 million for Kings Park, but the Town spent $83M on parks.

Wehrheim said we might have to pierce the tax cap next year, due to Parks commissioner raises. The parks are basically closed 5-6 months a year. They become passive.

Q: There have been some concerns about your temperament over the years. Can you speak to those claims?

A: At last month’s BZA meeting, I was there to tell Cathy Raleigh I wasn’t against her zone change; I was suggesting it was too high of a density. Everyone I’m running with is against it, but I’m not. I love condos. She was seated in her car next to a man who was about 6’3”, and I had a very nice conversation with him.

The Town Supervisor is weaponizing his public safety against me for the benefit of a newspaper article. By the way, the police said there’s nothing there. They preserved the video, but there’s nothing on there [that shows me intimidating Cathy Raleigh]. They owe me an apology. I’ve known her for 25 years; they’re using women to discredit me.

I stand up for what’s right, period. Sometimes, when you tell the truth, it doesn’t sound good to people. If you don’t make enemies in this business [politics and government] and everyone’s friendly to you, you’re doing something wrong. There’s a lot of people who don’t care about the taxpayers’ money. I feel sorry for Cathy that they did to her.

Q: What is your favorite quote, motto, or work ethic?

A: “Good over evil.” Good always wins, even if it’s a tough path to take. Another favorite is, “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Q: How do you like to connect with your community?

A: I love the bluff, I love walking in Nissequogue River State Park. I love fishing and I’m a big gardener.

The Messenger thanks Legislator Trotta for his time for this interview.

Q: What is your professional background and how has it equipped you for Supervisor thus far and for another term?

A: Before entering public service, I worked my way up the ladder in the Smithtown Department of Parks, Buildings and Grounds as a laborer all the way to Parks Director, overseeing operations in the Department. That experience—managing infrastructure, personnel, and budgeting—gave me a strong foundation in how to deliver real results for residents. Since being appointed to the Town Council in 2003 and then sworn in as Supervisor in 2018, I’ve applied that hands-on knowledge to governing effectively.

As a full-time Supervisor, I bring a sharp, day-to-day focus to every aspect of town operations. That dedication has helped us achieve and maintain a AAA bond rating – which with unfunded mandates and changes to credit ratings is no easy feat these days – restored roughly 75% of our parks system, and returned over $83 million in grants back to the taxpayers—all while keeping property taxes low and under the cap. We were one of two towns to not pierce the cap this year. Eight towns pierced the tax cap this year.

Q: What is the single-biggest issue facing Smithtown today and what have you done and will you do to solve it?

A: Maintaining affordability for families and seniors while protecting our quality of life is paramount. That means balancing the need for smart development with preserving our suburban character. My administration has worked to expand the tax base—through revitalizing blighted or vacant commercial properties—without raising taxes. We’ve also secured millions in State and federal grants to fund infrastructure and public safety improvements. Going forward, I’ll continue to fight for local control over zoning, advocate for taxpayer savings through modernization, and ensure our community remains a place where young people can afford to stay and older residents can comfortably age in place.

Q: Some fear overdevelopment in Smithtown and across Suffolk. How does Smithtown fare in terms of density compared to similar municipalities? Additionally, how can smart development ease the town’s housing market and provide paths to ownership, especially for young residents?

A: Smithtown ranks among the lowest in terms of population density compared to similarly sized towns. We have taken deliberate steps to preserve open space while revitalizing our downtowns in a way that supports small business, walkability, and community pride. For example, we’ve capped the building heights in the downtown areas at their existing precedent so that Smithtown will never see high rise buildings. Instead, our small business districts will be quaint, walkable downtowns that are safe for pedestrians, young people, and cyclists to traverse through. Smart development—like mixed-use buildings in downtown corridors—can help meet the demand for housing without sprawl. This approach provides more attainable options for young professionals, divorcees, and seniors looking to downsize, all while protecting the character of our neighborhoods.

Q: In that vein, Smithtown has an open space preservation plan. Explain how the program works, the density-to-acreage ratio, and how it’s helped increase the Town’s total of open space?

A: Smithtown’s open space preservation program is one of the most proactive in Suffolk County. The plan focuses on acquiring environmentally sensitive or underutilized parcels and designating them for permanent preservation. We keep a fund set aside to match with the County’s Landbank program. Also, we use Transferable Development Rights (TDR) to require the private sector builder to preserve, balancing development with conservation by maintaining a density-to-acreage ratio that favors green space—ensuring that for every acre developed, we are preserving or enhancing parkland and natural habitat. Thanks to this approach, we’ve expanded our open space and restored over 80% of our park system, while also adding new parks, athletic fields, and trails for residents to enjoy.

If you want to purchase land for the purpose of open space or creating something else, like parking, for example, you’d have to raise taxes. That sounds great on paper until you have to come to the Town comptroller and find out where the money comes from. The only revenue stream available to do all that is to raise property taxes. With buying open-space, Mr. Trotta says he will “on day one” put an open space account in place. With what money? There is no money tree at Town Hall. It was established about 6-7 years ago for $2M. There’s $1.6M in it right now.

What we do is have the TDR program. Instead of taxing the residents to buy open space, what we do is go to a business owner that needs more flow from the County Health Dept. because he wants to expand his restaurant, for example. The Town Planning Dept. identifies environmentally sensitive land that we would like to see purchased and never built on. We then give that to the business owner who needs the extra capacity, and with the approval of the Health Dept., he then purchases that property which gives him the required units he needs from Health Dept. to expand and we put a covenant on the property so it can never be developed. That’s a more economical way, in my opinion, to do it.

When Mr. Trotta talks open space preservation, he’s basing it on the quarter-percent sales tax that the County has, which builds up millions. That’s why he was able to purchase Owl Hill and other properties. I could assure Mr. Trotta those millions do not exist in the Town budget. The only way he could amass an account like that [the County’s] is to raise taxes.

Q: Some feel that the investment in the parks isn’t worthwhile, considering a declining youth population. Can you explain the logic in investing in the parks as your administration has?

A: For many years, the parks were left to age out. When we took office in 2018, the entire parks system was in need of upgrades and improvements. So, we decided to put that as one of our top priorities. Our parks are filled to capacity, probably seven months out of the year, and if it’s a mild winter, there are people using our parks – provided there’s no snow on the ground. You can go any evening to Flynn Park; the fields are full with tournaments. On weekends, the same thing. The Smithtown Kickers and Slammers [Soccer Clubs] are constantly talking about not enough field space for those leagues.

The parks are used by our young residents in little league, football, softball, and tennis, and it’s used by a large majority of the senior community, such as pickleball, tennis, park picnics, and grandparents bringing their children to spray parks, such as Hoyt Farm. They’re widely used by everybody that resides in the Town, young, middle-aged, and elderly. If you put a house on the market in Smithtown, it generally doesn’t last five days, and the people moving into these new houses – two of them on my street in the last six months – they’re not seniors, they’re young couples raising children here. I think it’s vital to continue to put the funding back into the parks for present and future use. The parks system is a large part of what makes a community and what keeps residential property values high. Our beaches, parks, and concert series attract thousands and thousands of residents; company picnics, family picnics, birthday parties as well.

Q: Many residents complain of the safety and aesthetic problems posed by not burying electrical lines. How can the Town solve that problem?

A: When we did the renovations, sewer mains, and water installations on Lake Avenue in St. James, we had PSE&G executives and representatives tell us that, at the time, it would cost $6M per mile to bury the wires and take the utility posts off the sidewalks. Lake Avenue is more than a mile long. We wanted to do that project with a $4M grant, which we wound up not getting, but we used reserve funds. We did install many double-poles and they cleaned up the overhead wires.

When we won the $10M DRI grant for Downtown Kings Park, we spoke to PSE&G about burying the lines. I have a PSE&G report that they sent back that states that PSE&G will not bury the wires on Main Street in Kings Park because Main Street is too narrow and already has utilities in there, such as water mains and fiber optics. There is not enough width in that road to do it. That comes right from their engineers and executives.

However, at the time, they said they would take the poles off Main Street, move them to the rear in the commuter lot, and run the services into the buildings from the back. That would eliminate most of the poles on the sidewalks. We have appropriated around $2.6M to undertake that project. In 2026, when we start the streetscape renovations, that will take place. The businesses will have to incur the expense of running the lines into the rear of their buildings. So, we’re trying to work out while we’re in the planning stages to come up with some grant money to redirect the wires. That’s going to happen, but it was not possible to bury the wires. You can’t dictate to a utility. PSE&G reps have told me face-to-face in meetings that Mr. Trotta has called for meetings with them.

The answer is, it has nothing to do with Suffolk County, and PSE&G will only deal with Smithtown elected officials.

PSE&G comes in to see us twice a year with their capital projects. When they do, we constantly bring up burying electric lines. Their answers from the executives have been, if there are new subdivisions going in, they certainly can bury the lines. However, Long Island, as a whole, in their words, is an overhead utility. It will always remain an overhead utility, and that’s why they’ve embarked on spending millions to put storm-hardened poles to replace the old ones. You see that all over Suffolk and Nassau as well. That would lead me to believe that we’re always going to remain an overhead utility.

Q: How are the DRI renovations going in Downtown Kings Park?

A: It was only two weeks ago when we received the authorization for the projects that NYS is going to allow us to do. We had the committee with multiple public meetings. They met with the State and local officials; Mr. Trotta appeared at most of them. Once you win the grant, you collectively come up with what the community wants to see. We sent about 15 projects that came from the business owners, chambers of commerce, civic groups, and residents who attended the meetings. The projects lie in the jurisdiction of the State, since it’s their money. They’ve allotted funding for the VFW on Church Street and the building on the corner of Indian Head Road and Main Street – a 3-story building with apartments and an Asian restaurant downstairs. They are also authorizing taking half of the municipal lot across from the fire house and turning that into a park setting for the business district. That parking lot is no longer full with commuters since the number of LIRR commuters has declined. We’re going to do that project in conjunction with the one the library is undertaking; it will be a mini “Central Park.” The library has plans for an amphitheatre. The State also awarded funding for a proposal by Flynn Real Estate to renovate one of the older buildings there, completely turn it into retail on the bottom and professional office/residence on top. You can’t move forward until the State gives authorization.

We will then try to meet with every business that did not get the funding and see if they’ll do some facade renovation work on their buildings to join a partnership with us in making sure that the district flourishes. That’s the stage we’re at. We do go to noncompliant businesses to cite violations, but when it winds up in court – most of the time, it does – because they don’t comply, then we are the mercy of the judge. Generally, what happens is it gets rectified, but a violator will say they’re trying to get a loan and most every time, the judge will give them 90 days. But in 90 days, the work must be completed. We do track that but again, when you write the violation, it comes in the form of a summons and if you don’t correct what you were summoned for, it goes to court. And now you’re in the court system.

Q: What are some big projects/proposals currently in the works?

A: We’re focused on expanding access. Plans for all-abilities playgrounds and new recreational programming are in the works. We’ve completed a hearing/visual impaired upgrade to our website this year as well. A major goal or a “campaign promise” I want to begin after this election season, are plans to improve Wi-Fi in trouble spots around town through the use of Starlink technology. We’re also launching initiatives to modernize municipal systems to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Other projects include completing the downtown revitalization efforts in Kings Park, Smithtown, and the sewer connection in St. James. Also, we will be completing our plan for upgrades to recreational facilities to support revenue-generating tournaments like pickleball and softball, and getting Smithtown’s sewer infrastructure fully funded and underway. These are all vital projects for our long-term environmental and economic health.

Q: Sewers are almost always number-one on any elected official’s to-do list. How are the sewers coming along in Kings Park, Smithtown, and St. James? What will you do as Supervisor, if re-elected, to continue that progress? Also, how has the $1.4M in wastewater infrastructure funds appropriated by Congressman LaLota factored into these works?

A: We’ve made significant progress on sewers in Kings Park, St. James, and Smithtown. Construction is well underway in Kings Park, with the engineering design progressing in Smithtown. In St. James, we are awaiting the upgrades to the Fairfield sewer district by the County and will be moving forward with connectivity for the downtown properties once that’s complete. The $1.4 million secured by Congressman LaLota (R-Amityville) is for stormwater infrastructure in Smithtown and a portion of Kings Park (LIRR station) to assist with flooding issues in the Smithtown Business District and along the Main Street strip in Kings Park. As Supervisor, I’ll continue advocating for state and federal partnerships to ensure we fully fund these systems. Sewer infrastructure not only protects our environment—it opens the door to smart economic growth and revitalization in our downtowns.

Q: What is your favorite quote, motto, work ethic, or words to live by?

A: “Action is the foundational key to all success.” – Picasso. That mindset has guided me throughout my career. I believe leadership is about showing up, listening, and delivering real results. I’ve been proud of my career as a lifelong public servant, from the military to blue collar to managing the Town that I’ve lived in my entire life. I believe that dedication to community and putting in the hard work are non-negotiable to do this job. Those values continue to guide me every day.

Q: How do you like to connect with your community?

A: I’ve lived in Kings Park my entire life, and Smithtown is more than just where I work—it’s home. Whether it’s talking to residents at the local diner, attending a youth ballgame, or walking our incredible parks and trails, I stay connected by being present. What I love most about Smithtown is the sense of pride and community. It’s a town where people still know their neighbors, where generations of families live just blocks from one another, and where we work hard to preserve what makes our community so special.

The Messenger thanks Supervisor Wehrheim for this interview.