Babylon Town budget to raise taxes 2%, stay within tax cap

The Town of Babylon is offering a budget for next year that will raise taxes by 2% and won’t pierce the state tax cap.

The preliminary budget for 2026 is $207.7 million, an increase of 3.7% over the current budget of $200.2 million. The proposed budget increases the total tax levy to be collected from $145,367,802 to $148,332,623, or 2.04%. The town’s tax cap was 2.08%.

For the average assessed value home in the town, it amounts to a roughly $33 increase, a figure that does not include the $23 million allotted for the 11 fire districts covered in the budget. According to town spokesman Ryan Bonner, because the amount “varies so widely across all the individual fire districts,” it’s not possible for the town to give an average tax increase dollar amount that includes the districts.

A public hearing on the preliminary budget will be held Thursday at 3 p.m. at Town Hall.

Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer said the 2026 spending plan is a “cost-to-continue” budget with challenges of rising state pension and other costs that span towns.

“We have to obviously continue the services that residents come to expect while at the same time covering those increases that are literally beyond our control,” he said.

The town is coming off back-to-back years of 10% tax hikes. Town Comptroller Victoria Marotta said state pension costs have been a major factor in recent years, with predictions of them rising 22%, or $1.2 million, in 2026. She said she’s had to increase tax rates over the last two years to “position us to not have to increase those rates again; to position ourselves financially to handle another increase like we’re seeing for the 2026 budget.”

The proposed budget’s largest spending increase is in the town’s highway fund, where the tax increase per average household is expected to rise by about $30, from $392 to $422.

Babylon officials said this was due to surging prices associated with infrastructure improvements, namely the town’s 10-year, $100 million commitment to repairing its entire road network.

Inflation was a significant factor across departments, and Marotta said the town board asked department heads to freeze all nonlabor budget lines in their spending requests.

Rising prices from outside vendors resulted in increases across departments in the “professional and technical services” lines of the budget. In the department of the supervisor, such costs increased nearly $110,000, while in the parks and recreation department, the jump was more than 112%, from $29,300 to $62,300.

Overtime costs also surged in many departments. Marotta said some departments, such as planning, need temporary staff increases due to the implementation of new software. Overtime costs there are budgeted for a 100% increase, from $25,000 to $50,000.

In the commercial garbage district, the town’s new CLEAN litter collection program has led to more overtime costs as the town uses workers on Saturdays from April to November, Schaffer said. For next year, the overtime budgeted is spiking more than 566%,  from $146,382 to $976,021.

Salaries for elected officials will increase in the proposed budget for a cost-of-living increase, Schaffer said. The five board members’ total salaries will rise 3.4%, from $290,409 to $300,328. Schaffer’s salary will increase from $119,497 to $123,680.

This is the town’s lowest tax increase — and the first time it hasn’t busted the tax cap — in seven years.

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.