Long Beach City Council Authorizes Tax Increase In Special Meeting

LONG BEACH, NY — The Long Beach City Council authorized a budget that pierces the New York State tax cap at a special meeting Friday, unanimously approving two resolutions to authorize the tax levy increase and approve the city’s 2026-27 budget.

“We were hoping we weren’t going to have to have this [meeting], but it’s a necessity,” council president Brendan Finn said at the start of the meeting, which began at 9 a.m. Friday.

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City manager Dan Creighton called Friday’s meeting, “a formality, but a very important one.”

“We suggested piercing the tax cap with a 3.75 percent tax increase, equivalent to about $229 a family, approximately. As part of our charter, we have to vote in order to pierce that tax cap,” Creighton said.

Long Beach resident James Hodge was present at the meeting, saying he was making public comments on behalf of, “the working people, the seniors and families of Long Beach.” In his comments, Hodge blistered the city council for voting during a special meeting, specifically a meeting held at 9 a.m. on a weekday.

“Calling a special meeting at 9 a.m. on a weekday to override the tax cap is a disservice to this community,” Hodge said. “Holding this session during standard working hours locks out the very taxpayers who will be footing this bill, giving the distinct appearance of avoiding public scrutiny.”

When reached for comment Tuesday, city officials noted that a public hearing on the budget and the tax cap had been open at the last two city council meetings, and denied the idea that the Friday meeting had been scheduled to avoid scrutiny.

In his public comment, Hodge also took issue with how some of that budget was distributed.

“Frontline, CSEA, part-time laborers who keep the city running are left struggling. $15 an hour. That is a functional sub-minimum wage on Long Island, while asking taxpayers to dig deeper into their pockets,” Hodge said. “It’s fundamentally wrong. A tax increase affects every household; it determines whether seniors can stay in their homes, and how families survive. The high-stakes issue demands transparency…Before you vote to pierce the state’s tax cap, you owe this community answers. Right now, the timing, the math and the morals of this budget are not adding up…How can this council claim to represent the community when a 9 a.m. vote structurally excludes working class families? What unforeseen emergency required scheduling this now, instead of a standard evening session?”

Hodge was the only public commenter present at Friday’s meeting. City officials said during the meeting, as they later did Tuesday, that public hearing on the budget had been open at two previous meetings. After Hodge’s comments, the board closed the public comment period on the tax cap-piercing amendment.

Members of the city council said that there had been unforeseen circumstances leading up to this budget vote and the tax levy increase that it carries, citing specifically overtime that had needed to be paid during a winter that saw Long Beach battered by multiple blizzards dumping feet of snow on the barrier island.

After public comment closed, Finn pointed to New York City’s budget as an example of what Long Beach was trying to avoid.

“What we wanted was to not raise taxes,” Finn said. “[The city manager’s office] did the best they could to make that not happen…There are a number of economic issues that plague every municipality, and the cost of living is one of them. I watch, in New York City, how they play tricks with the budget, they use gimmicks. Maybe ‘trick’ isn’t the right word, but ‘gimmick’ is. And those gimmicks are not being used here…where we put off until tomorrow what we need to do today, and I think that’s something that everybody in this city should take note of.”

Finn didn’t say which parts of New York City’s budget had been balanced through ‘gimmicks,’ but said work towards the next city budget would “start today,” adding that the city would try to cut its costs and boost its revenues over the next 12 months.

“I feel very confident to say this is a solid budget. I wish we weren’t piercing the cap, but we are,” Finn concluded.

Both amendments were approved unanimously, and the meeting closed.