Sixteen months ago, the Nassau County Legislature set aside $1 million in tobacco settlement money for anti-smoking programs over the next four years.

So far, none of the money has been spent. Legislator Lisanne Altmann (D-Great Neck) said there's an easy explanation: foot-dragging by the administration of County Executive Thomas Gulotta. "I would like very much for Tom Gulotta to make his New Year's resolution this year ... to enforce the ordinance we proposed," said Altmann. "It is embarrassing that Suffolk County would go ahead and do this, spend $6 million. The easiest thing for him to do would be to spend the $250,000 and help people and children in Nassau County to stop smoking." From the settlement with Big Tobacco last year, Nassau County received $247.65 million, with $77.65 million set aside for Nassau University Medical Center. An additional $169 million was used to reduce county debt. The remaining $1 million was to go for education and smoking prevention programs in 2000-2003. The Legislature adopted an ordinance earmarking that amount in September 1999. However, the education plan was not part of the final resolution adopted that October, Altmann said Friday at a news conference in her office. She said that in June, the county executive signed a contract with an agency to administer the anti-smoking program, then failed to distribute the money. Nassau has been in the throes of a financial crisis that has left it on the brink of bankruptcy and under the thumb of a state oversight board. Claire Millman, a Massapequa anti-smoking advocate, said the $250,000 is "precious little to spend to save lives," but is better than nothing. Suffolk set aside $6 million of tobacco settlement money in 2000 for anti-smoking programs, the most of any county in New York. "That we haven't applied it yet is unconscionable," Millman said. She said the $250,000 amounted to per capita spending of 19 cents. For anti-smoking programs to be effective, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended per capita spending of more than $5. In the state, only Suffolk has come close to that figure, with just over $4 per person, Millman said.

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