Nassau County Legis. Dave Denenberg, D-Merrick, was joined by fire, school, and library officials on Friday at the North Merrick Fire Department to demand that Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano's "Toilet Tax" be removed from his proposed 2011 budget.

The tax will force nonprofits, such as school, fire and library districts to increase their budgets, raise taxes and pass along the financial burden to taxpayers, Denenberg said.

"This Toilet Tax is being disguised as a sewer fee, but amounts to no more than a tax on all water usage by our schools, fire departments, towns, libraries, colleges and universities, and not-for-profit organizations," he said. "In fact, most of the revenue will come from schools', colleges' and fire departments' water usage that is completely unrelated to flushing the toilet. A Toilet Tax based on water usage is illegal and must be stopped. Ultimately this new tax will be paid by our way, over-burdened property taxpayers."

He added: "Mangano's Break-Your-Back Budget is littered with covert tax and fee increases. The Toilet Tax is an example of these hidden taxes."

The Toilet Tax, which Mangano has dubbed a "water usage fee," imposes service charges on school and fire districts, public libraries, hospitals, colleges and universities and other notprofit organizations. The rate will be one penny per gallon of water entering the county's sewage system based on consumption in 2009. Colleges and universities could pay millions of dollars for their water usage. The Toilet Tax would take effect July 1, 2011.

"The extension of the county sewer fees is yet another 'hidden tax' in the Mangano budget," Nassau County Legislature Minority Leader Diane Yatauro, D-Glen Cove, said. "Since Mr. Mangano has failed in his attempt to negotiate any union concessions and has abandoned his move to 'order' concessions, he will again turn to county residents to pay for his mismanagement."

The North Merrick Library uses about 100,000 gallons of water a year, according to director Tom Witt.  The new water fee would cost the library $1,000 annually, Witt said.

"I don't agree that's a way to create revenues to meet the needs of the county budget," Witt said of the proposed fee.

Denenberg questioned Mangano as to how flushing a toilet can be measured and taxed and was told that there are no sewer meters, but it would be based on water meters.

"The Toilet Tax, or the Toilet Fee, is going to be based on how much water a school, a hospital, a fire department or a library uses," Denenberg said. "…To call it a 'sewer usage fee' when all we can meter is water, penalizes tax-exempt organizations for most of their water usage which is totally unrelated to flushing the toilet."

The North Merrick Fire Department, which would be taxed under the new amendment, is on pace to use more than 700,000 gallons of water this year. The department's water usage translates to a $7,000 tax for water that Denenberg said does not even go into the sewers.

While Denenberg has stated that Mangano's tax is irresponsible, Mangano, a Republican, shot back that Denenberg and his fellow Democrats are the ones who have put the county in such poor fiscal shape.

"For years, Dave Denenberg and his colleagues hiked taxes and failed to reform Nassau County finances," Mangano said. "Legislator Denenberg is responsible for the $343 million deficit we face today and is the reason I must make the tough decisions needed to fix our county."

The sewer usage fee is expected to bring in $38 million over the course of a full year from the tax-exempt organizations.

The "Toilet Tax" is one of the items on the agenda for a public hearing on the County Executive's proposed 2011 budget that is scheduled for next Monday at 10 a.m. in the Nassau County Legislature's chambers in Mineola.