Port Jefferson taxes to go up 6.3 percent

Port Jefferson village taxes are rising in the next fiscal year.

The village's trustees Monday approved a 6.3 percent tax increase for fiscal 2012-13 that will raise village taxes by $67 for the average homeowner.

The trustees approved a $9.3 million budget that increases the tax levy by about $322,000. The new tax levy is $5.4 million.

The owner of an average home in Port Jefferson will see taxes rise from $1,065 to $1,132 a year.

While trustees couched the tax increase with promises that it won't become an annual occurrence, they also said it was necessary this year because of decline in revenue.

"We are at the bone," said Mayor Margot Garant, adding that "this is the rainy day."

The board's decision came after a public hearing in which a handful of residents questioned whether the village could cut expenses rather than raise taxes.

"I'm never happy with an increase," said resident Donald Pawluk Sr. "Especially in these times."

Trustees unanimously voted last month to override the state's cap on tax increases of 2 percent. Trustees said at the time that the move was necessary.

More than 30 Long Island villages have passed similar measures.

The tax increase was forced in part by pension costs, which have climbed from $199,000 four years ago to $550,000 next year, village officials have said. Mortgage tax revenue has fallen from $1 million five years ago to an anticipated $255,000 in 2012-13, officials have said.

An earlier budget plan was $400,000 greater, which would have resulted in a bigger tax hike, village officials have said.

The $9.3 million budget proposal would have automatically become the fiscal 2012-13 budget if the trustees failed to approve a spending plan by May 1, said village clerk Robert Juliano.

"We came up with a fair spending plan and now we have to fund it," said village treasurer Don Pearce.