By Karenlyn Barone
With Mayor Eugene Scarpato awaiting a cardiac procedure, Deputy Mayor Thomas Miccio led the board, comprising Trustee Bill Hendrick and his two newly minted colleagues, David Penso and Richard Clifford. The board scurried to tighten the budget after a tentative fiscal plan was presented last week, and members did reduce it, but none of them was enthusiastic about its adoption.
"There is a lot in the budget I am not happy with," said Hendrick. "But I believe the business of the village has to go forward, so I decided to vote for the budget as it is."
The approved fiscal plan details an 8.65 percent increase over the current year, with a total working budget of $29,716,763. It includes a tax rate of $13.69 per $100 of assessed value.
"We really went back to the grindstone to find ways to get the budget down," Miccio assured the residents after his affirmative vote to adopt the plan.
At last week's meeting, budget official David Smollett presented the village's tentative plan, which detailed a 12.65 percent increase. It was adjusted to 9.11 percent by the close of the meeting, including a tax rate of $14.19 per $100 of assessed value. By the time the budget was voted on at this week's meeting, the board and the budget committee had whittled the figure down by $748,783. Even so, the board was less than enthusiastic about adopting the plan .
Hendrick said that he saw areas where there can be shared services to reduce costs, and admitted that, in his opinion, the board had not done all in its power to seek grants. "I think the budget should be lower," he said. "I hope we do a better job next year."
Miccio echoed Hendrick's sentiments, saying that certain items like certioraris and workmen's compensation "impacted us very dramatically." But, he added, if the scaled-down budget had not been adopted, the tentative plan automatically would have been, raising taxes to the higher level.
The same concern prompted Clifford to vote for the budget's approval. "I do not wish to levy taxes on you, or myself," he told residents. "Neither do I want to cause an interruption in the smooth business of this village, so I have to vote yes."
Penso abstained. "This is my first and last abstention," he told the surprised audience of about 25 residents. "There was not enough time, and I did not feel I could do justice to this budget."
In fact, even though Miccio and Smollett worked closely with the two new trustees, Clifford and Penso had less than a month to review the plan.
Penso said that, for him, that was not enough time to digest and take a meaningful role in the budget process.
The adopted budget is for the fiscal year beginning June 1 and ending May 31, 2006.
Comments about this story? KBarone@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 202.
