Village Sets Lower Budget With Higher Tax Levy

Despite clean-up costs associated with Superstorm Sandy and a tax levy hike, the Village of Massapequa Park turned in a lower Village budget than last year.

At Monday’s Board of Trustees meeting, Massapequa Park Mayor James Altadonna said that the tentative 2013-2014 budget was one carefully crafted to be as efficient and cost-effective as possible.

“It’s a good budget,” he said. “We’re probably one of the few municipalities that are asking for less money this year than last year.”

As of now, the 2013-2014 comes in at $5,941,697, lower than the previous year’s budget of $6,158,148. The Board of Trustees recently passed a resolution allowing the Village to exceed New York State’s mandated tax cap on municipalities, and as a result, this year’s tax levy is currently set at 10.36 percent, up from last’s year’s amount of 9.890 percent.

Altadonna said that Sandy had a direct bearing on the hike.

“We’re going to have a tax increase, and it’s been noted that the reason for it is to replenish the surplus,” he said. “It’s very prudent that you have enough money to pay for disaster recovery, to pay the people who work here, because quite honestly, you’re asking these people to leave their families, and you’re asking them to sometimes put their lives at risk, and I think it would be a real insult to not pay them.”

Increasing the tax levy was also necessary to maintain the Village in a state of readiness in case another storm the magnitude of Sandy should hit, Altadonna said.

“That was a big part of this budget...making sure those funds were there,” Altadonna continued. “We heard today that the National Weather Service is predicting 16 storms this year, and as many as seven could hit hurricane status. We don’t know where they’re going to go, but that’s what we’re dealing with this season.”

The Village plans to adopt the  2013-2014 budget at their next public Board of Trustees meeting.

New Village Trustee Daniel Pearl, absent from last Monday’s annual Installation-Organization meeting, was instead sworn into a two-year term Monday by Nassau County Legislator Michael Venditto.

“For the past six months in the Legislature, I’ve been referred to as the new kid on the block," said Venditto. "But now I get to turn to the new kid on the block here in the Village,” he said. “And while he is the junior member of the Board, he is an old friend here in Massapequa Park, and I think the best days are yet to come.”