Garden City board adopts $54.6M budget

The Garden City Village board Monday unanimously adopted a $54.6-million budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year beginning June 1.

The board had considered creating a local law to exceed the 2 percent state tax cap if necessary, but decided to withdraw the item from the agenda, village administrator Robert Schoelle said.

“The village will stay within the 2 percent tax levy cap,” Schoelle said.

The approved budget is 1.67 percent higher than the 2011-12 budget. The approved tax rate is $42.84 per $100 of assessed valuation. For the 2011-12 fiscal year, the tax rate was $42.12.

The largest items in the proposed budget are for personal services (41 percent of the budget), employee benefits (21.5 percent) and operating expenses (15.2 percent).
Village officials estimate the village would obtain $45 million from real estate taxes, $6.6 million from revenue and $3 million from current surplus appropriation.

Trustees John Watras, Nicholas Episcopia, Andrew Cavanaugh and Brian Daughney were sworn in during the annual organizational meeting.

The next board meeting will take place April 19 at Village Hall, 351 Stewart Ave.