Town Budget Proposal Features Tax Cuts and Spending Freezes

Babylon Town Supervisor Steve Bellone is proposing a $137.2 million budget that would cut taxes by 4.9 percent, saving residents about $55 a year, and would freeze spending on highway projects and reduce the garbage fund.

The proposal would cut $3.8 million in taxes and reduce town spend by over $3.3 million compared to last year. Officials said the budget meets the state's new 2 percent property tax cap mandate. The current budget features a $5.16 million tax cut over 2010.

In a statement on the proposed spending plan Bellone notes the town had reduced fulltime employees by 24 percent since he took office in 2002, with 324 employees currently on the payroll and that the town has cut employee overtime costs by 45 percent in the past two years.

Bellone is currently running for Suffolk County Executive against challenger Angie Carpentar.

The town must have a new budget in place by November 20, according to a town spokesperson, and a public hearing will be held on a final proposal. It is expected the town board will set that date at its next meeting.

In a press release, town officials note that mortgage tax revenues have dropped by 67.2 percent in the past few years, due to the housing crisis, and there have been increasing costs to healthcare and annual state pension fund requirements.

The release cites projections from the Office of the State Comptroller that Babylon’s retirement contribution will have increased $2.02 million, about 190 percent, between 2009 and 2012 and that there has been a 38.7 percent spike in healthcare costs since 2007.

“For the second year in a row, I am submitting a budget that provides real reductions in town taxes for Babylon residents,” said Bellone in the press statement.