Village Board Adopts $8.88 M Budget for 2013-14

The Babylon Village Board of Trustees voted unanimously to adopt the budget proposed earlier this month, setting a budget of $8.888 million for the 2013-2014 fiscal year.

The budget was introduced to the public during an April 1 budget hearing and was only delayed in its approval due to low public attendance during that meeting.

The $8.888 million proposed budget features a roughly $300,000 increase from the 2012-2013 budget, which totalled $8.587 million. During the April 1 meeting, Mayor Ralph Scordino said the village used roughly an eighth of its budget in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in October, between cleaning up and starting repairs. The village received over $800,000 from FEMA to help cover a portion of those costs.

The village residents will provide just under 66 percent of the next year's revenue as state aid to the village dropped about 11 percent from the previous year to $482,510. New York State gave the village $536,153 in 2012-2013 and $1.551 million in 2011-2012, by comparison. In 2011-2012, the village's real estate taxes provided for nearly half of the budget.

The tax rate per $100 of assessed valulation increased $1.26 to $14.24 from the previous year.

The proposed budget features holds on the salaries of the mayor and the Board of Trustees, with Scordino making $15,000 a year and the four board members amounting to $30,000 total.