July 3, 1983

Late last month, more than 800 representatives from public television's hierarchy gathered in a hotel ballroom outside Washington, D.C., to thank the U.S. Congress for its financial support. The occasion was a festive one attended by nearly 100 Congressmen who heard testimonials to the virtues of public television's programs from an eclectic group including LeVar Burton, star of ''Roots,'' Roone Arledge, president of ABC News and Sports, and Roberta Peters of the Metropolitan Opera. Only a year ago, the toast of the town was facing impoverishment and obsolescence. Public television suffered financial cutbacks from Federal and state governments, corporations and foundations. Even worse, fancy new cultural cable services threatened to supplant public stations entirely by offering high-toned programming to paying customers. ''We were fighting not only the funding cuts but the perception that we were on our way out,'' says Lawrence K. Grossman, president of the Public Broadcasting Service.

Florida has begun to crack down hard on racketeers from New York who, according to Federal and state prosecutors, are invading the garbage collection and disposal industry here on the state's west coast. On Tuesday, the Florida Attorney General, Jim Smith, and the Pinellas County State Attorney, James T. Russell, jointly filed a civil antitrust suit against 20 individuals and 12 west Florida refuse hauling companies. At a news conference, the officials described the defendants as practitioners of ''mob-style control'' of the trash hauling industry in this booming retirement area. Threats and Beatings Cited In January, the United States Justice Department's Organized Crime Strike Force in the Tampa area is to begin trying a major criminal racketeering case against 11 people, including five of those named in the state's civil antitrust suit. The five, identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as Mafia members or associates from New York, are accused of conspiring to seize control of garbage disposal here by ''getting tough.''

When starting on a risky venture, it's nice to have a friend along. The New York City Opera begins its new, daring and controversial summer format on Thursday (provided contract disputes between management and orchestra musicians are resolved by then) and to make it work, the company is relying on the best friend a modern opera house ever had -Giacomo Puccini. Puccini's operas - six of them -will anchor this new summer season. ''Turandot,'' with Franco Alfano's posthumous ending added in its entirety, opens this Puccini Festival on Thursday. And Puccini on stage makes up only part of the proceedings. There will be Puccini to talk about (nine lecture/recitals) and Puccini to look at (a photographic exhibit called ''The Italy of Puccini''). There will even be Puccini to eat and drink by. The City Opera is opening its new Cafe Puccini for the event, where patrons can drink wine and dine lightly at candlelit tables on the New York State Theater's outdoor terrace.

Although Suffolk County has been celebrating its Tercentenary in spurts since the start of 1983, the festivities get into high gear tonight at Westhampton Beach when the Long Island Philharmonic performs the world premiere of ''Honor Song,'' an overture by David Amram. Commissioned to mark the occasion, the piece, Mr. Amram said, draws on Indian and other ethnic musical strains to capture the spirit of one of New York's oldest political entities. The orchestra, led by Christopher Keene, will also play Stravinsky's ''Firebird Suite'' and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. A fireworks display by the Grucci family caps the evening. The free concert, which will be repeated at 8:30 P.M. Monday at Heckscher Park in Huntington, is at 8 P.M. at the Suffolk County Airport, but get there early with your own seating. ROUSING FOURTH Hold the hot dogs and take a detour around the hometown parade; there's more than one way to mark Independence Day. For example, the Nassau County Center for the Fine Arts in Roslyn Harbor is holding an old-fashioned American Fourth of July Celebration, inviting folks to try their luck in a ''kite-making and kite-flying festival'' and enjoy the music provided by the Dixie Ramblers, the Country Squires and the All Americans. The free events are from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. at the center, off Northern Boulevard.

SOME time around the beginning of next year, if Northeast Utilities has its way, 900,000 electric customers around the state will start paying higher bills to cover the cost of the Millstone 3 nuclear reactor in Waterford. The rate increase, if it comes, will be historic. Increases come every year, sometimes bigger than the one that Northeast is now asking. But this increase would be a sharp break with traditional rate-making, because it would include money for a plant more than two years from completion. In a letter to the State Department of Public Utility Control last month, Northeast said that it would call for a ''phase-in'' of the burden of paying for the reactor, which at the current estimate of $3.54 billion is the state's largest construction project.