Glen Cove mayor presents ‘bare-bones budget’ for 2018

Glen Cove Mayor Reginald Spinello presented what he called a “pretty bare-bones budget” at a City Council work session Tuesday night.

Two public hearings are scheduled on the budget: one at next Tuesday’s City Council meeting, and the other at the Oct. 24 meeting. Both begin at 7:30 p.m. A vote is scheduled for Oct. 24.

“We’re managing the expenses well,” Spinello said at the meeting.

The $75,291,195 budget is about $4.5 million under last year’s $79,718,255 budget, city controller Sandra Clarson said Wednesday.

There will be a 1.25 percent increase in the tax levy, below the state’s 1.84 percent property-tax levy cap, Spinello said. The levy in 2018 will be $30,165,251.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has criticized the city for relying too much on one-time revenue in past budgets, such as payments from Uniondale-based developer RXR Glen Isle Partners for land for its Garvies Point project.

Spinello said that in the 2018 budget, “there’s not one line item that is dependent on one-shot revenue.”

The city is expecting $1,963,000 in building-fee revenue, much of it from RXR, Spinello said.

DiNapoli also has criticized the city for borrowing money for operating expenses. Spinello said that, unlike in past years, the city is not borrowing money to pay for employee-termination pay and tax certiorari, which together in 2018 is expected to total $1,025,000.

Only city officials had access to the printed draft budget on Tuesday. It will be available to the public on Friday at City Hall, and online after the council approves it, Clarson said.