By Andrew Hackmack
The average homeowner's village tax bill should go up by about $50 a year when the new budget cycle begins on June 1. Deputy Treasurer Michael Fox said this increase is consistent with those of recent years.
The proposed $32.1 million budget is only a half-percent increase over the current year's spending plan. The tax levy, however, will rise by 3.8 percent. "We reviewed all the spending," Treasurer John Mastromarino said. "When we went through this budget, we took a surgical knife to all that we could."
The explanation for the sharp difference between the budget increase and the tax hike is the village's projected loss of about $900,000 in revenue next year. The biggest hit will be the mortgage tax, which officials are predicting will be about a half-million dollars less next year.
Fox noted that in the 2005-06 budget year, mortgage tax revenue peaked at $1.2 million. Since then it has steadily declined, but this year has been the biggest drop-off so far. Fox estimated that the village will receive only about $400,000 next year.
His projection for the current year was $950,000, a 20 percent reduction from last year. However, he said, when the books close on May 31, he expects the village will only have taken in about $500,000 - closer to a 60 percent decline. "We thought 20 percent was going to be reasonably accurate," Fox said.
Several months ago, when village officials realized that revenues were down, Mayor Ed Cahill issued an order to freeze all discretionary spending, including new hires and overtime.
There are two other major revenue sources that the village will not be able to rely on next year. It will lose its share of the county sales tax - about $101,000 - and will also bring in about $275,000 less on its investments because of falling interest rates. "Those are things beyond the board's control," Mastromarino said of the declining revenue. "No matter what you try to do, you're at the mercy of the market."
Another issue the village must contend with is rising utility costs. Fox said it will budget $1.2 million, an increase of about $100,000. Although gas prices are down from this time last year, Fox said the village needs to budget cautiously. High gas prices last summer ate away at the sanitation and highway budgets, forcing village officials to find money elsewhere in the budget to cover fuel costs through the end of this year.
The proposed library budget will rise by $61,000, to $1.26 million. Fox explained that both the Nassau Library System and the Automated Library Information System have had to raise fees to local libraries because of a reduction in state aid.
To keep the tax increase on par with previous years, the proposed budget would use almost $300,000 in surplus funds.
Mastromarino said that after the schools, the village accounts for the biggest share of homeowners' tax bills. It covers an array of services, including garbage collection, recreation and parks maintenance, the fire department, library, snow plowing, road repairs and fire hydrant fees. "All of your quality-of-life issues are paid here," he said.
No services or programs will be cut in next year's budget, he said. Officials have found other ways to reduce expenses. A $30,000 roof repair at the Department of Public Works building will be put off at least another year, overtime will be cut by $25,000, staffing on court nights has already been reduced, and $100,000 will be cut from the highway and parks departments' part-time employee budget. Fox said there might also be fewer summer recreation positions available, though not enough to affect the level of service at camps or the village pool.
Mastromarino said the village will have a capital budget of about $2.25 million for the next budget cycle, which will include about $1.5 million for road repairs.
The village Board of Trustees will hold a budget hearing on Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Village Hall courtroom and could adopt the spending plan that night. Cahill said he welcomes any input. "If somebody comes up with a great suggestion on how we can save money," he said, "we'll take a look at it."
Comments about this story? AHackmack@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 265.
