Lindenhurst proposes piercing tax cap with 6.4 percent budget increase

Lindenhurst officials are proposing a 4.6 percent tax increase for the new village budget, piercing the tax cap.

The 2019 to 2020 proposed budget of $14,347,985 is a 6.4 percent increase over last year’s budget of $13,488,025. The tax rate would increase from $18.15 per $100 of assessed value to $18.99, a 4.6 percent increase. A single-family home with an average assessed value of $4,000 would see a tax increase of about $34.

The village is also proposing a $13 increase in the sanitation fee for a single-family house, from $215 to $228. In total, this would raise all village taxes and charges by nearly $47 or, 4.9 percent.  

The largest line item increase is for principle and interest on capital leases, which rises 472 percent from $44,965 to $257,400. Mayor Mike Lavorata attributed the jump to the village’s new approach with heavy equipment, choosing to lease for several years and then buy for $1 rather than outright purchasing.

“It’s much cheaper in the long run,” he said.  

The second largest chunk of increased expenses comes from the fire department, whose budget increases by $180,390. The largest part of this is $102,890 in salaries, which Lavorata said was due to the hiring of Advanced Life Support EMTs. The department also has allocated $25,000 as part of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.

Contractual salaries across departments, as well as the costs of hiring additional part-time code enforcement officers for the weekends, make up the next largest expense, followed by medical insurance, which rises $94,880 in the proposed budget.

Lavorata said the village had appropriated $190,000 in surplus funds for last year’s budget but never touched it, so the village will be using that money this year. Without this money, he said, the tax increase would have been 1 to 2 percent higher.

Lavorata said he knows the tax increase may be difficult for some residents, but that poor planning from the 1970s to the 1990s led to some of the expenses the village faces today.

“Thirty years later and I’ve got infrastructure issues, I’ve got fire department equipment that needs to be replaced,” he said. “This year I think we’ll put ourselves in a really good position for the future.” 

A public hearing on the proposed budget will be held on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Village Hall, 430 S. Wellwood Ave.

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.