Smithtown Appoints New Comptroller, Attorney

Smithtown Town Council voted to hire a new town comptroller and attorney at their annual reorganizational meeting on Tuesday. 

Supervisor Patrick Vecchio voted with board members to hire Louis Necroto as the new Town Comptroller to replace John Morris, whose two-year term expired on Dec. 31, 2011. 

Morris was the center of a dispute between Vecchio and council members, who accused Morris of failing to answer their questions during the preparation of the town's $7.1 million budget for 2012, according an article published by Newsday [subscription required]. 

Vecchio voted with the board unanimously, 5-0, to approve of Necroto's appointment. Necroto, 43, is a Nesconset resident who is a former New York City detective. 

However, the Smithtown board was clearly divided over the rehiring of John Zollo as town attorney for a two-year term, from Jan. 1, 2012 to Dec. 31, 2013. Zollo will be paid $125,000 a year in addition to acting as the town's Freedom of Information Officer.

Newsday reported that Vecchio said he was against the hiring of Zollo, who was previously town attorney until 2002, because the $125,000 salary represents a 10.7 percent increase in salary over the amount budgeted for the staff position. 

Councilman Thomas McCarthy abstained from the vote because he said he would have favored promoting an assistant or deputy attorney.