Islip Town Board Votes to Approve $223.5 Million Budget With Over 9 Percent Tax Increase

The Islip Town Board recently voted to approve the proposed $223.5 million budget with a 9.9 percent tax increase last week.

At the hearing, which took place on Thursday, four out of the five members voted to pass the budget with Councilwoman Trish Bergin Weichbrodt voting against it, according to a report in Newsday.

The budget increased by 1.05 percent from last year's $221.17 million budget and will bring the town's tax cap to 0.68 percent.

Under the new budget, the town's residents will be paying an additional $48 in taxes per household.

“It was a difficult budget with the backdrop of the 0.68 percent,” Town Comptroller Joseph Ludwig, previously told Newsday. “The modest tax increase that we have proposed here today helps us get back on that path of being in better financial shape.”

The group, Reclaim New York was among those to oppose the tax increase claiming the vote to approve the budget "completely ignores the will of the people" and stating that residents should be "infuriated."

“In perhaps one of the most tone deaf moves of this year’s local budget season, the Islip Town Board stuck their residents with a big tax hike to line the pockets of officials with hefty pay increases," Reclaim New York executive director Brando Muir said in a statement. "Raises are raises, no matter how they try to spin it."