Glen Cove mayor's budget would hike residential property taxes

Glen Cove's Mayor Reginald Spinello has proposed a budget for next year that would raise residential real estate taxes but cut the commercial rate.

Spinello, an Independence Party member in his first year of office, released a $72,441,567 budget Thursday, which represents about a 3.6 percent hike from this year's budget of $69,923,027.

The proposed 2015 budget includes a 1.64 percent tax-levy increase, which does not exceed the state's tax levy cap of 2.46 percent, Spinello said.

He said his proposal does not call for layoffs or elimination of services. It includes reducing overtime by $100,000, which he said he felt comfortable doing because of "better management of personnel."

Under the mayor's spending plan, the commercial property tax rate would decrease by 0.84 percent, which represents an $80 reduction in taxes per $500,000 of assessed value.

Residential taxes would be raised 1.17 percent, equating to a $38 increase for a home with an assessed value of $500,000, officials said.

Spinello said, after plugging in all the city's projected revenue and expenses for next year, he needed to raise taxes an additional $487,000 from this year. There is typically a 70-30 percent split between the residential and municipal tax rates, he said.

"I think it's significant in the fact it shows that the city is making a real effort to maintain our commercial tax rate and to maintain our commercial base . . . and I want to help the homeowners also," he said.

"It's my first year in office, and there's a lot to be done . . . I worked really hard on this budget," he said.

He said he also lowered legal fees in his budget because he expects several outstanding cases to be settled by the end of the year.

City Council members have copies of the spending plan and will begin discussing it at their pre-council meeting Tuesday.

"Of course there are going to be some questions," said Councilman Michael Famiglietti, a Democrat. "At this point, I think we're in the right direction, and I'm comfortable with it."

A public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for Oct. 14, during the City Council meeting. The final vote is slated for Oct. 28.