Gruelling Budget Approval for Sleepy Hollow

After a dramatic three-hour special work session, Sleepy Hollow trustees managed to approve a budget for the village far under the mayor's originally proposed tax hike.

The final tax levy increase comes in at 4.22 percent, breaking a stalemate through an unusual call-in tie-breaker.

This post will be updated with the actual budget when it gets posted on the village website, but to summarize the night:

The latest tax increase the trustees had whittled the mayor’s 8.5 percent down to was 3.85 at the meeting’s start. From there, trustees started weighing the options of adding back a few items.

They debated adding in two part-time building department employees (an administrative person and a code enforcer). This comes at Trustee Evelyn Stupel’s recommendation as she said their efforts against illegal housing are gaining momentum she’d like to continue with.

Also, coming soon or already underway are many large projects that will put increasing demands on the existing building department: Duracell soil remediation, Phelps Memorial Hospital renovations for Robin’s Nest and additional parking, the Salvation Army rebuild, River’s Edge, and someday, GM.

Unlike ordinary work sessions, citizens were allowed to voice their opinions on this night, four of whom did. 

Elaine Metcalf said it’s unfair that so many nonprofits have big construction projects that take up so many of the village resources without paying the same taxes.

Hugh Jones commented that the building department could find the money they need through better management.

Trustees also debated adding in another police officer. Resident Michelle Gonzalez hoped that if there were a new officer, the force would better enforce speeding limits on Route 9.

The trustees considered, ultimately, five different scenarios of these hiring or not hiring options, each resulting in a different tax increase from the 3.85 up to 6.1 percent.

Six members were present on Tuesday, including Mayor Ken Wray, as Bruce Campbell couldn’t be there. The board split the vote 3-3 and had reached an impasse they couldn’t break (which prompted citizen Mario Belanich to object that the mayor was part of this vote).

If the budget didn’t pass, the original Mayor’s Budget would be the default. The board, not seeing this as an option, located Campbell by phone and quickly passed a special resolution to accept his vote in absentia.

Campbell was briefed over the phone on what was going on and each of the five scenarios. He voted in favor of only adding people to the building department and only for six months starting in December.

This brought the budget to its final 4.22 percent increase, far above the tax levy cap which the board had previously voted to override anyway.

Some other casualties of the budget along the way:

• The village hayride has been reduced significantly, which could mean dropping one night of this growing event.
• Senior citizen programs are reduced, likely meaning a reduction in their monthly field trips.
• The publicity budget was in fact reduced as expected. Read more on this here.
• The DPW request for an additional person was denied.

And the major additions:

• Two new part-time building department employees
• The paid EMTs will be able to continue, which the trustees saw as a significant service to protect.

This all comes to a total levy of $9,804,637 (the amount the village is taxing), for a general fund expense total of $14,511,389.

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