Mastic Beach 1st budget proposes $575 tax

The big question at Mastic Beach Village's inaugural budget hearing: How much is this going to cost us?

The response from officials: We sympathize with your concern.

The $3.8-million budget -- the subject of a Monday night hearing -- would cost the owner of an average home about $575 per year in property taxes and garbage collection fees.

Some residents asked whether enough money was appropriated for improved code enforcement, a service village Mayor Paul Breschard promised when he led last year's successful drive to incorporate the village. Others questioned if the village's 88 miles of roads would cost more to maintain than the $1 million budgeted. Breschard said village officials think the budget will cover services, but added that the spending plan is a work in progress.

"It's hard to come up with the budget because there's no history," he said.

Mastic Beach, which has about 11,500 residents, was born after a public vote in August. At the time, Breschard and other supporters said the new government would not result in higher taxes for village residents. Breschard, who repeated that promise on Monday, said the village will be "tax neutral" because residents will now pay less money in local taxes to Brookhaven.

Time will tell if Mastic Beach will collect the same amount in taxes that the town would have, Brookhaven spokesman Jack Krieger said. But resident Alan Chasinov, who was among a group of about 20 residents at Monday's hearing, said he fears a tax increase.

"We don't have a commercial tax base," he said. "It just doesn't add up to me that we're going to have a balanced budget or anything close to it."

All but about $680,000 of the village's budget will pay for street maintenance and garbage collection. Staff, public safety and debt are the other major costs, documents state.

The first budget was difficult to craft because the new village's expenses haven't come into focus, Treasurer Felix Wienclaw said.

"There's not a lot that's exact because we don't know our true costs," Wienclaw said.

The village is required by state law to approve a budget by May 1. The budget covers the village from June 1 to May 31, 2012. Village trustees will further discuss the budget on Monday and vote on it shortly thereafter, officials said.