Massapequa Park Unveils Proposed 2011-12 Budget

The Village of Massapequa Park unveiled its proposed 2011-12 budget Monday night, which included a 3 percent property tax increase.

The plan also included what Mayor James Altadonna referred to as  a "modest increase" in spending over the previous year.

Full printouts of the Village's 2011-12 tentative budget were made available, which Altadonna touted as being a success when the tough economy was taken into consideration.

"As you can see from the cover page, we've had a modest [spending] increase from $6,070,951 to $6,165,979," he said. "Our revenue has gone the other way...it's gone down 1.53 percent from $5,640,806 to $5,554,193."

Rising pension costs, health insurance, fuel, energy costs and economic uncertainty are among the factors Altadonna attributes to the slight rise in the budget.

Altadonna recapped some history from last year to shed light on what shaped the Village's 2011-12 budget.

"Last year, we projected to use $450,000 from our surplus [fund]," he said. "We were able to not only not use the surplus from last year, but add approximately between $30-40,000 to the surplus. That will leave us this year with a surplus of $1,640,000, for which, if you look at this year's budget, we're going to allocate $600,000 for which we hope to, or maybe not, use."

Overall, the Village budget is proposing an raise in their tax rate from 9.372 percent to 9.653 percent, an increase of percent. As a result, their tax levy will raise from $3,655,389 to $3,761,762, an increase of $106,373. All things being equal, this should result in approximately a $19.69 increase per household, according to the numbers released by the village.

There is also an increase in the budget for salary increases of up to 5 percent for negotiating purposes, although Altadonna noted that the funds might not need to be used.

"We're not saying that's going to happen," he said. "That's just in the budget."

Altadonna also confirmed that were will be no layoffs of Village employees for 2011/2012.

In other Village Board meeting news, Massapequa water commissioner Frank J. Flood gave an update on their deal with Verizon, who currently leases space on the district's May Place water tank for cell antennas. Currently, the lease agreement ends in 2012, and in it's current form, stands little chance of being renewed.

"The lease is currently one-way," Flood said. "It's currently all in favor of Verizon. For example, we wanted to paint the tank, and in order to paint the tank, we asked Verizon to remove the antennas from the legs so we could paint. They wouldn't do it."

The original lease was drawn up in 1992, before Flood's appointment as commissioner. Flood would like more provisions that favor the Massapequa water district if the lease is to be renewed.

In other business, two resident Mother/Daughter dwelling building applications were approved by the board, in addition to an application by Park Boulevard restaurant The Good Life to put up tables, chairs, and a removable fence outside on the sidewalk for use in warmer weather.

The meeting opened with the swearing in of Kevin Walsh by Mayor Altadonna for another term as Village attorney. Walsh has served in this position since 2001.