Monday, June 16, 2025
Residents continued to voice their frustration over the Village of Atlantic Beach’s looming 87 percent property tax hike.
The increase, announced during a special budget adoption meeting on April 30, marks the largest tax hike in the village’s history.
Dozens filled Village Hall during the monthly board meeting on May 12, criticizing what they described as a lack of transparency from Atlantic Beach officials.
Resident Douglas Garczynski took issue with Mayor George Pappas attributing 60 percent of the tax increase to a Nassau County tax shift. Garczynski questioned where the remaining 27 percent was coming from.
“You read a statement concerning the 60 percent on the assessments,” Garczynski said. “Do any of you have any comment on the additional 27 percent increase in taxes that we are having this year?”
Residents attributed the remaining 27 percent increase to additional spending on the ongoing litigation between the village and the Chabad of the Beaches, based in Long Beach, and urged the board to settle the case.
The dispute between the Chabad and the village began in 2021, after the organization purchased a former Capital One bank property at the base of the Atlantic Beach Bridge; in 2022, the village attempted to seize the site through eminent domain, but a federal judge later ruled in favor of the Chabad.
Other residents raised similar concerns, asking if any of the other villages that serve as their own assessing units in Nassau County were facing comparable issues.
Trustee Barry Frohlinger said that of the 19 villages that are assessing units of Nassau County, Atlantic Beach is the only one facing this problem, crediting it to improper tax rate calculations that have been occurring since 2006.
A financial committee was voted on and approved during the meeting, which will consistenting of Frohlinger, Treasurer Herbert A. Klibanoff and select members of the community.
An expanded story will appear in next week’s edition of the Herald.
