Patchogue Village Budget: Decision Day Monday

Monday  4-7-14 at 6 p.m. there will be a public hearing on the proposed Village Budget for 2014-15.  For those residents who might be going for the first time to this meeting I thought it would be a good idea to explain what happens at a public hearing on the budget.

The budget will be introduced with some remarks from the Mayor or he will defer an explanation to the Village Treasurer who will then present a report about the draft recommending its adoption.

Usually Board members are then given an opportunity to ask their own questions about the draft at that point.

Then the public gets its chance to ask questions about the proposed budget.

Generally the Mayor has permitted speakers to take their time asking questions but under Board rules he can limit all speakers to three minutes speaking time if there was a large turnout and limiting time would more fairly allow more speakers to have their chance to speak rather than just a few.

However over the past several years turn out by the public has been small.

When all speakers have had their say the public hearing can then be closed, Board members can then discuss the budget again and then the budget could be voted on. While there is no legal requirement to adopt the budget this Monday, it does not have to be voted on until later in the month by law, in recent years the Board has proceeded to a vote after the public and the Board members have had their say.

The draft summary page reports what appears to be tax increase of less than three percent which appears to fall within the two percent cap. The reason that less than 3 can still fall within the two percent cap level is that the cap is not absolute and there are some exceptions to it that a village can apply and still legally fall within the two percent cap. If that is the case the Village Treasurer should be expected to say so when he makes his presentation.

Those residents and businesses hooked up to the sewer district can expect to see a higher increase in fees as per the draft and that increase too awaits a report from the Village Treasurer as to why.

Although the news looks good at this point that the village general fund will stay within the tax cap and village taxes will slightly increase not so good news has been how this whole process has unfolded I feel. 

On Monday the public will be asked to speak on a budget the final draft of which only appeared this last Thursday. From then to the public hearing five days will have passed. Not a lot of time really. The draft budget is not posted on the village website. There has been no report about its provisions in the media other than references here in this blog and some other places on the Patch and on Facebook of only a superficial nature. The reason for that is short notice plain and simple.

The 6 p.m. meeting time by its nature excludes most working tax payers and in years past has helped to explain the low turnout of resident tax payers.

Taken altogether it would seem that the fair thing for the Board to do on Monday would be to defer voting on the budget until the public has adequate time to review it and then to hold at least one more public hearing at a later time where more people can attend. 

In a more ideal world the Village Treasurer could in fact hold a public information session to explain the budget even before a second public hearing to really inform interested members of the public. Even then the public might not show up for a second public hearing  but in that case the Board would have done its duty and provided for that chance whether taken or not.

Since the Board does have some time before it must vote and because budget information has been limited if the Board does vote on the budget Monday one question that will linger afterwards will be this one: why was a vote rushed?

Let’s hope that fair minded Board members will consider this other question: by voting early would that action be truly consistent with the spirit of this bedrock American ideal: “no taxation without representation”.

Monday we will all find out the answers to those questions.