By:Andrew Coen
Although the numbers aren-t yet known, Cedarhurst Mayor Andrew Parise said he is 100 percent certain that village taxes will go up when the budget is adopted at Monday-s village board meeting.
It will mark the second time in Parise-s nine years as mayor that the village has raised taxes. Cedarhurst now has one of the lowest tax rates in Nassau County, $3.95 per $100 of the assessed value of a home. Cedarhurst residents will see an increase in 2004-05 due mainly to mandated increases in the state retirement system and employee medical benefits, as well as needed repairs to the Water Pollution Control Plant, some of which have already been made and some of which will be made this year.
There will be an increase, and the question is, how much? said Parise. That-s one thing I hate to do is raise taxes, but sometimes you just can-t help it. We have no choice.
According to Parise, about $200,000 will be needed to replace a cover of one of the storage tanks at the water plant, and $70,000 to $80,000 will be needed to pay off a $1.5 million bond approved by the village trustees last year for repairs to the plant.
You take those items alone and you-re looking at at least a half-million dollars, said Parise of the increases in the state retirement system and medical benefits and the water plant repairs. He said not all of the money would come from taxes, and that the village may look at increasing fees to help ease the tax burden.
The 2003-04 Cedarhurst budget is $3,593,210.
Lawrence budget dips
Lawrence is the only village in the Five Towns staring at a decrease in its 2004-05 budget. According to Village Administrator Peter Overs, the projected budget will be $11,313,169, which is $102,020 less than this year-s total of $11,415,189. The tax rate will remain the same, at $21 per $100 of assessed valuation, according to Overs. Overs said the village prepared well for the mandated increases in the state retirement system and medical benefits. The village has instituted some savings here and there, he said. We were able to renegotiate our insurance package, which saves us over $350,000.
The village also generated an extra $56,000 in revenue from parking meters, which helped it hold the line on taxes, according to Overs. Last September, the parking meter fees were increased at the village-s municipal parking lots and on the street.
According to Overs, about $200,000 of the Lawrence budget will be earmarked for the planned remodeling of the municipal parking lot between Frost Lane and Rockaway Turnpike, which would add at least 20 more spaces, and the addition of seven parking spaces behind the Super Sol supermarket on Central Avenue. The redesigned municipal parking lot would allow cars to enter and exit from both Rockaway Turnpike and Frost Lane. It is not clear when construction will begin, but engineers are currently studying the plan, Overs said.
The Lawrence budget is scheduled to be adopted at Monday-s meeting at Lawrence Village Hall.
Atlantic Beach
In Atlantic Beach, the village tax rate will remain the same, at $9.85 per $100 of assessed valuation, with a total budget of $1,868,238, compared with this year-s budget of $1,830,881.
We tried to keep it a tight budget, said Atlantic Beach Mayor Stephen Mahler. I-m very glad we could hold the line on taxes. [Residents] are getting raises in every other sphere, with school taxes, property taxes and everywhere else, so ... the board [and I] thought it would be unfair to raise the village taxes to pile on top of everything else.
The proposed budget was scheduled to be adopted at a public hearing on Tuesday, after press time.
The Hewletts
The villages of Hewlett Harbor, Hewlett Bay Park and Woodsburgh have changed to the Nassau County assessment system, following the lead of Hewlett Neck, which did so three years ago. The county system is based on four property classes: residential, condos/coops, utilities and commercial. Under the old system, the tax rate was the same in all property classes.
Last year-s tax rate was $2.90 per $100 for Hewlett Harbor, $1.98 per $100 for Woodsburgh and $4.24 per $100 for Hewlett Bay Park.
Hewlett Neck, the lone Five Towns village to use the county assessment system last year, had a tax rate of $6.24 per $100. It is not clear how the tax rate will differ in 2004-05 because of the county tax assessment system, according to Hewlett Harbor Village Clerk Susan Galante.
Galante said that the tentative 2004-05 budget is $645,295, compared with last year-s $812,496. A big reason for the decrease of $167,201, according to Galante, is that last year-s budget contained money for the repair and renovation of the Mallow Reach Bridge.
The Hewlett Harbor budget is scheduled to be adopted on Thursday, April 15, at 7:30 p.m. at Hewlett Harbor Village Hall.
According to Marie Velotti, the village clerk for Hewlett Bay Park, Hewlett Neck and Woodsburgh, the budget has already been adopted for Hewlett Bay Park and Woodsburgh.
Hewlett Bay Park-s 2004-05 budget is $666,105, compared with the current total of $532,820, and Woodsburgh-s budget came in at $606,021, compared with $532,820 for the 2003-04 budget.
The Hewlett Neck budget, adopted April 12, is $226,334, almost the same as this year-s $226,187.
