By:Angela Marshall
The increase would raise the tax rate from $24.36 to $25.76 per $100 of assessed valuation. The average homeowner, with an assessed value of $7,700, will pay an extra $107.80 in village taxes, up from $1,875.72 in 2003-04 to $1,983.52 in 2004-05. The village is not using the new Nassau County assessments to compute taxes for the 2004-05 fiscal year.
Residents will get a chance to weigh in on the budget at a hearing on Thursday, April 1, at Village Hall, 1 College Place. Village Comptroller Michael Schussheim is planning to meet with the Citizens' Budget Advisory Committee, a group of residents who review the budget every year, for comments prior to the Board of Trustees' budget vote.
Village Administrator Ron Wasson and Schussheim agree that the biggest increases in the proposed budget are the result of jumps in pension and health-care costs. Both issues are wreaking havoc with budgets statewide, and have been for the last few years.
Mayor Eugene Murray has lobbied all over New York for state lawmakers to change laws regulating state pension costs, and while talks on the subject continue, solutions won't come in time for this budget. In an effort to save village taxpayers from absorbing the full brunt of the pension hit all at once, Schussheim and the board agreed last year to spread the payments out over more than one year. The proposed 2004-05 installment calls for a $140,612 increase in state retirement costs, a 21 percent jump, and $29,483 more in police retirement funds, a 3 percent hike.
Health insurance increases also "continue to hit the village very, very hard," Schussheim said. He said there are now annual double-digit increases in this area. The village is proposing a 14 percent increase for next year, up $330,000 from $5,344,905 in 2003-04.
The proposed budget also reflects the 3 percent raise included in Civil Service Employees Association contracts, which take effect June 1. Police contracts expire in December, and the village has included money to cover some increases there as well.
All village department heads were asked to reduce their equipment lines by 7 percent and to maintain last year's levels in other areas. Schussheim said that was done whenever possible.
Village revenues are expected to increase 9.3 percent, or $957,643, from $10,250,135 in 2003-04 to $11,207,778 in 2004-05. Much of that will be produced in a few key areas, including building permit applications and state aid mortgage taxes. With many large projects planned in the village, the budget forecasts a 35 percent increase in building fees, up $234,210 from $665,790 in 2003-04. Village officials said that they did not include Signature Place, the apartment complex proposed for Banks Avenue that has been the subject of much debate, in the numbers.
The state aid mortgage tax is expected to go up 39 percent, or $240,000, from $620,000 in 2003-04.
Villagers can look at the budget at Village Hall prior to the hearing. The board may adopt the budget after the public hearing on April 1.
