Village of Cedarhurst to raise taxes by 5.59 percent

Although Village of Cedarhurst Mayor Andrew Parise doesn’t like to raise taxes, a budget of more than $1.568 million was adopted on April 30, with a tax increase of 5.59 percent.

“I’m happy and I’m sad,” Parise said about the budget. “I’m sad we have to increase taxes but the village budget committee did well in preparing for the budget and I believe it’s one we can live with.”

The tax increase is a result of rising costs for the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department (LCFD), which seeks to add a two-story extension to its current Washington Avenue location, and a 20 percent increase for fire hydrant rentals. “The other mandates — health care and retirement — everything is going sky high,” Parise said.

“We’ve paid around $75,000 to rent the fire hydrants and now we’ll be paying almost $100,000 but it’s a necessity and you have to have it. It’s tough for us to live within the 2 percent [tax cap.]” That is the state’s mandated 2 percent tax-levy cap that can be exceeded by a 60 percent majority of a municipal board such as a village or town.

Ronald Lanzilotta, village trustee and budget officer, said that fire protection services — the costs associated with the LCFD — increased by 4.43 percent.

“The village was able to keep the tax increase in the general fund below the 2 percent tax cap, due to its ability to maintain a tightly structured budget absorbing most of the built-in increase caused by the requirements to maintain our infrastructure, services, normal labor and fringe benefit increases,” Lanzilotta wrote in his budget statement he sends to Village Clerk-Treasurer Sal Evola. “But has exceeded the tax cap due to the increase in the cost of fire protection services and fire house construction project.”

In an effort to keep costs down, Parise uses his many years of government experience to obtain grants, while involving the community to collect donations for a variety of projects.

“Most improvements we do are done through donations and grants, including those made to [Andrew J. Parise Park],” said Parise, who has served Cedarhurst since 1971 and has been mayor for the past 17 years. “We don’t spend money for things unless it’s absolutely necessary. It’s something I’m proud of and has been my policy all these years.”