What’s ahead for Valley Stream in 2012?

Many ideas are coming out of Village Hall to improve Valley Stream in 2012.

Andrew Hackmack/Herald

Valley Stream village officials are looking to complete a number of projects in 2012, begin some new initiatives and meet financial challenges.

This month, the village’s department heads will turn in their budget requests for the fiscal year beginning June 1. It will be the first budget Valley Stream has created under the new 2 percent property tax cap, a measure passed by state lawmakers last year.

Mayor Ed Fare said that Treasurer Michael Fox and his staff will have to be creative to come up with a budget that maintains services while addressing rising mandated costs such as the village’s contributions to the state pension fund, unemployment insurance and worker’s compensation. “I also don’t have a desire to raise taxes more than 2 percent,” Fare said.

After Fox goes through the department requests, he will present a tentative budget proposal to the village board in February.

Additionally, his goal for 2012 is to get the village a coveted Triple A bond rating. Valley Stream is one step below the highest rating, which would mean lower interest rates when the village borrows money.

Fare said that one way to help secure an AAA bond rating is to bring commercial tax assessments under control. The village currently pays back more than $1 million each year in refunds from successful tax challenges.

Fox said that the village has hired a professional assessment firm to review all commercial properties in Valley Stream. Early this year, he added, representatives of the firm will make a presentation to the board regarding properties assessed at $1 million or more. If they judge that some of these properties are overassessed, the village will likely reduce the assessment to avoid future challenges that lead to costly refund payments. “We’re trying to stay ahead of the curve,” Fox said.

Internally, Fare is reviewing the structure of all village departments. He wants to merge the Sanitation, Highway and Parks departments into a single Department of Public Works to make better use of village manpower. There would be one department head, and each division would have a supervisor.