Village Approves Option Of Overriding Tax Cap

The Patchogue Village Board of Trustees passed a motion by a 4-1 vote for the option to possibly override the state imposed two-percent tax cap at Monday's Village Board of Trustees meeting at Patchogue Village Hall.

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In April 2012, the Village Board also approved the option but ultimately stayed under the cap by passing a 1.13 percent increase on the tax levy. Village Treasurer Ronald Krawczyk said Monday that it ultimately came in around 1.76 percent based on the governor's formula.

Krawczyk said that the passing of this motion does not mean the Village Board plans to pierce the cap.

"We do it because we do not want to have problems with mathematical errors or errors of that type because there are a lot of fines involved if you say you are going to stay within the cap and then you go over it," Krawczyk said.

Voting for the option is also recommended by the state, he said.

Patchogue Village Mayor Paul Pontieri said that the Village has not yet received compensation for Hurricane Irene in 2011. Between that, Sandy, and the recent blizzard, the Village has to be cautious on how money is handled, he said. Despite that, Pontieri said that he does not anticipate a need to pierce the cap.

"We should be pretty much close right around that two percent as we were last year unless something changes," Pontieri said.

However, trustee Tom Ferb said that due to the recent weather disasters, 2013 is looking like a difficult year for Patchogue Village.

"The overall dollar value of our assessed valuation is going to go down significantly this year," Ferb said. "We don't know how much yet, but the Clare Rose Beer Distributor is off the books, Tritec is off the books, we all know Napa is off the books."

Ferb also said that since Hurricane Sandy left 12 residences uninhabitable, those residents get a year's repreive in which their tax bill only covers the foundation.

"The apartments down on the west side of the river, they are uninhabitable for a whole year," Ferb said. "So there's a whole bunch of real estate that we've gotten assessed valuation of taxes on in the past that for the 2013-14 year are going to be off the books."

Ferb said that after talking with an assessor, the decrease could be as much as 10 percent.

Ferb said that as new residences at the Clare Rose site and Tritec's New Village units come aboard in 2014 and beyond, that will bring new units onto the books. But for now it could be a stressful year, he said.

Pontieri discussed options involving a proposal by the governor that would adjust pension costs paid by Patchogue Village that could possibly save some percentage of money.

During public comment, one resident suggested the Village consider keeping to necessary expenses only. Another resident suggested the Village consider employing furloughs, mandated unpaid leaves of work.

Trustees Joseph Keyes, Tom Ferb, William Hilton and Jack Krieger voted in support of the motion, trustee Gerard Crean voted in opposition and trustee Lori Devlin was away for the meeting.