Village Budget Talks in Final Hours

The Tarrytown Village budget 

that started out pretty good actually got better in recent weeks, when the board whittled down the tax increase even further.

Though the increase falls within state mandates, officials still aim to override the law – as they did last year – as a precautionary measure.

“We are well within the tax cap levy limit,” Blau said. “However, the adoption of this local law, which is the same action taken last year, provides protection for the Village should there be some error in our calculations.”

On the same night as their budget approval meeting this Wednesday, the board is holding a special hearing to “hear, discuss and to act upon a proposed Local Law authorizing a property tax levy in excess of the limit established in General Municipal Law §3-c.”

This special meeting starts early on May 1 at 6 p.m. at Village Hall, One Depot Plaza, leading up to their work session where they plan to pass a budget that has caused no stir in the community and required no huge machinations of the board.

Since the March 20 budget proposal came in with a tax increase of 5.18 percent, minor modifications made by Trustees in subsequent weeks have brought it down further to 4.82 percent, said Blau, summarizing the state of budget talks at the April 15 meeting. An increase in non-property tax revenues were able to offset rising “out of control” costs like pensions and health care.

The board closed public hearings on the matter for good (as again no one from the public had voiced any issues) on April 15 and it seemed they had little to do but sit on things until their scheduled May 1 approval meeting. However Trustee Tom Butler proposed another work session for further discussion, which likely didn't take too long.

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Meanwhile, Sleepy Hollow

has called their final budget approval meeting for Tuesday, April 30, at 7 p.m. at their Village Hall, 28 Beekman Avenue. They might be working down to the wire to get there, said Village Administrator Anthony Giaccio, saying that nothing’s pinned down until the end.

If approval doesn’t go through: it’s back to the Mayor’s proposed budget with its 8-plus percent tax hike.

Another department on the table lately is basically the whole televised end of the Village Hall publicity budget, which comes down to the one-person media manager Daphney Mickle.

“We left a little to cover the cost of covering meetings, but that’s about it,” Giaccio said.

The budget committee figured the media department had become a nonessential service – in the age of social media, YouTube, and public media at near-saturation, it had become redundant, Giaccio said. He said public access TV was more popular when it first came onto the scene and everyone was on it, but “it’s not as popular any more.”

The board, he said, “saw a better opportunity to save money” by cutting video services done to its barest bones, though he said, “it’s not a done deal.”

As of June 1, if approved, Mickle's budget could go from $42,000 to $10,000 (which might not be enough for her to stick around for, he said).

“We’ve been cutting the media little by little for the last few years,” Giaccio said, citing an overall budget in that area of $76,000 in 2011-2012, down to $68,000 last year and $36,000 proposed now. This figure includes $16,000 for website, $10,000 for "miscellaneous" media like the village calendar, and lastly $10,000 for meetings/television.

Stay tuned.

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