Lindenhurst Village Board Approves $10.9M Budget for 2012-13

The Lindenhurst Village Board has passed its budget for the fiscal year running from March 1, 2012 to Feb. 28, 2013.

The $10.9 million budget is up by 1.4 percent from $10.7 million in 2011-12, and it includes a 2.7 percent increase in the tax rate, an MTA tax that stays flat (no increase) and a 2.5 percent increase in the sanitation fee.

In dollars and cents that means the tax rate of $13.72 per $100 of assessed valuation in 2011-12 for each homeowner in the Village goes up to $14.09; and the sanitation fee of $197 per one-family dwelling in 2011-12 goes to $202 in 2012-13.

"That's approximately $15 to $30 on average, or $400 to $700 on average, with the sanitation fee factored in, depending on the home," Village Administrator Shawn Cullinane said. "That's really a very modest tax increase."

The budget adoption took place following a brief overview by Cullinane, and a brief public hearing at the most recent board on night.

Despite the modest tax hike, Mayor Tom Brennan, Cullinane and the board felt that the Village's new 2012-13 budget was fairly streamlined and stayed within the two-percent tax cap New York passed in June last year.

"Even though we allowing us to exceed the tax cap, we were able to keep to it," said Cullinane.

But if the tax rate is going up, then how is the Village able to say it followed the mandate to keep the tax levy within the two-percent tax cap guidelines set by the state comptroller's office?

According to Cullinane, the tax cap applies not to the tax rate, but to the entire tax levy, which, under the new cap, cannot be more than two percent or the Consumer Price Index (CPI) - whichever is less. And the tax levy has to do with the total revenues the Village generates.

If Village revenues are down from one year to the next, then it has two options: trim the budget and/or pass the difference onto the homeowners in the form of a higher tax rate and fees.

The 2012-13 budget Cullinane presented showed that Village revenues are down. This is due to several reasons, according to him, including:

• Flat or decreased interest rates on monies brought in by taxes at the start of each calendar year.
• More commercial - and residential - property owners challenging their tax rates and getting reassessed at lower rates.
• Line items like disability insurance increasing.
• State aid being flat and/or down.
• Factoring in contracted raises for its employees this coming fiscal year and the next.

Cullinane also explained that there's an online formula set up by the state comptroller's office where municipalities can plug in their numbers and receive exemptions such as the partial one the Village received for having an increase of 14 percent in pension costs, from 2011-12 to 2012-13.

However, those exemptions don't relieve any pressure from the mandates the state puts on the Village and other municipalities, according to Cullinane.

The fact remains that items like insurance costs are still dictated by the state through the comptroller's office, he said, noting that pension costs are still going up 14 percent, and "health insurance is going up well over 10 percent this year."

However, in the end, according to the formula, Cullinane said the 2012-13 budget kept to the tax cap and Mayor Brennan's mandate.

He also pointed out that for the 2012-13 budget that there are no* surplus funds being used, which helps the Village keep money on hand for emergencies and repairs, and the total outstanding debt for the Village is down.

"It's less than last year because we bonded less, so the number is slowly going down. Currently, the debt is at $7.9 million cumulative over the next 11 years," Cullinane noted.

Editor's Note: *These two words have been inserted. The statement now correctly reflects the non-use of surplus funds in the 2012-13 budget. Apologies for any confusion that the omission of these two words might have caused.