Village of Cedarhurst adopts a budget increase, here's how much:

Cedarhurst village’s adopted budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year includes a slight increase of $41,306 from the current fiscal plan, and was unanimously approved by the five-member board on May 1.

The $7.298 million budget consists of two parts. It includes $6.553 million for the general fund and $745,635 for fire protection services for the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department. Cedarhurst contracts with the LCFD along with Lawrence village.

Mandated by New York state law, Cedarhurst’s tax-cap levy will not exceed the current tax cap of 2 percent. The village’s tax levy will be $1.360 million

Deputy Mayor Ari Brown presented the tentative budget through a Zoom call and said the village faced some challenges during preparation, such as health insurance, which represents 19 percent of the budget.

Projected union contract and payroll increases would exceed $42,000 and appropriations were increased due to what Brown called “uncontrollable non-funded mandates.”

“Despite the fiscal difficulties, this budget includes a mass of significant infrastructure projects and necessary equipment purchases,” said Brown, who also serves as the area’s assemblyman.

Brown has said that without Cedarhurst, there is no Five Towns. Once again, the village has the lowest taxes in Nassau County.

“The Village of Cedarhurst continues to maintain one of the lowest tax rates in the 64 villages in Nassau County,” Brown said.

Mayor Benjamin Weinstock began promoting the creation of the village’s own police auxiliary unit. In the Nassau County Police Department’s 4th Precinct, the village was also being protected by auxiliary police unit 109, the largest volunteer force in the county.

“The Village of Cedarhurst proudly has its own unit,” Weinstock said. “It is a bright new dawn and a bright new day for the Village of a Cedarhurst because we are making efforts to providing greater security for our residents and I am very proud to have been a part of that.”

The creation of auxiliary unit 101 was prompted by the rash of packages being stolen from residents’ homes, property being stolen from vehicles and reports of people being followed or chased.

“We saw an opportunity to try and do something about that,” Weinstock said. “To get some extra patrols at night and on the weekends.”

For over 20 years, volunteers patrolled the village, unit 109, which consists of over 30 members and functions as the extra set of eyes and ears for the Five Towns and Atlantic Beach.

Weinstock said his new village unit is not a replacement for unit 109, but an addition.

“They haven’t been kicked out and they haven’t been told to stop,” he explained. “They’re very much a part of the village and this doesn’t detract from what they have, this adds to it. We want them to continue to do exactly what they’re doing.”

Calls were made but not returned by Danny Gluck, the commanding officer of unit 109.

Unit 101 currently has two active officers, Anthony Squiciarino and Shari Zagorski, and is looking to recruit additional officers.

Zagorski, a lieutenant, is the commanding officer of the unit. Weinstock said she had spent 1,000 hours a year on police work volunteering with the auxiliary police department.

Squiciarino, also a lieutenant, has over 30 years of auxiliary police experience.

Weinstock said he plans to hold a news conference properly announcing unit 101 with his trustees and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman at a future date.

Have an opinion on Cedarhurst creating another volunteer auxiliary police unit? Send letter to jbessen@liherald.com.