Roundup: Trustees consider piercing tax cap

HEAD OF THE HARBOR

Trustees consider piercing state tax cap

The Village of Head of the Harbor's trustees plan to create a local law that would allow the village of less than 1,500 residents to pierce the state tax cap.

A public hearing will be held Nov. 19 for trustees to consider adopting a law that would permit the village to raise property taxes in excess of the tax levy limit for the fiscal year beginning March 1, 2015, village officials said.

"This is something we've done for the last two or three years," said village Mayor Douglas Dahlgard, calling the measure a precaution. "We start our budget process in November, and we really don't know what the tax rate will be for the following year."

In order to override the cap, the village must pass a law to do so and hold a public hearing, Dahlgard said.

The village has "significant expenses," he said, citing a contract with the St. James Fire Department to provide fire and emergency services to village residents.

"That by itself represents a 3 percent increase in our property tax rate," he said, adding that the contract will increase from $277,000 to $313,000 for the 2015 budget cycle.

Dahlgard said a $13,000 increase in expenses is equal to a 1 percent hike in the village's property tax rate, because the village is modest in size.

The village's $1.63 million budget for 2013-14 called for a 4.7 percent tax rate, he said, exceeding the state's 2 percent tax cap.

Dahlgard said that successful property assessment valuation grievances stemming from the economic downturn years ago and snow removal have impacted the budget.

"If the assessed valuation in the village was going up 2 percent a year, then we would have a much better chance of keeping the tax rate within 2 percent, but the fact of the matter is it's not," he said.

The hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Village Hall, 500 North Country Road, St. James. -- Lauren R. Harrison

ISLIP TOWN

Town Board faces Nov. 20 budget vote

With no public commenters and no amendments proposed at a sparsely attended public hearing Thursday, the Islip Town Board has until Nov. 20 to pass the $130.5 million 2015 budget that was proposed in September. The new budget includes a $5.86 million spending increase, but no tax increase.

At the hearing, Supervisor Tom Croci thanked the town's commissioners for their help in trying "to figure out how we do more with less, certainly what the taxpayers expect and certainly something we've become unfortunately very good at in the town because of the tough fiscal times we are in and the very difficult fiscal times we walked into just a few short years ago."

The proposed budget's 4.7 percent increase comes from rising labor and health care costs, as well as the increased prices of equipment, supplies, fuel and power, according to town officials.

The town has an estimated $11.3 million deficit. The board also has to deal with an estimated $6 million in cleanup costs at the town-owned Roberto Clemente Park in Brentwood, where 50,000 tons of toxic fill was found to have been illegally dumped.

The town board approved up to $6 million in bonds for the cleanup, an amount that is expected to grow. The proposed budget includes a $40,000 short-term bond anticipation note to cover immediate cleanup costs, with a larger bond sale to occur in the future.

Councilman Anthony Senft said that before the Nov. 20 deadline, town officials will continue to tweak the budget to further trim expenses and "downsizing the footprint of government and do those things we're mandated to do better and . . . perhaps get out of the business of things we shouldn't be doing." -- Sophia Chang

CENTRAL ISLIP

Language advocates talk LI challenges

Dozens of immigrants and civil rights advocates attended the third year of a conference for language advocates Friday, where they discussed the challenges ahead in making Long Island a more welcoming region and its governments more responsive to residents from other countries.

Part of the discussion at the Long Island Language Advocates Coalition centered on assisting the more than 2,600 immigrant children placed with relatives and sponsors in Nassau and Suffolk counties this year after entering the country illegally as unaccompanied minors.

Advocates vowed to continue fighting for their right to an education and "a support system for them after school," said Sister Margaret Smyth, who directs the North Fork Spanish Apostolate in Riverhead. "We are going to have a better society" if those children are helped to succeed.

Susanne Marcus, president of the New York State Teachers of English as a Second Language, said the recent arrivals will need instruction from teachers certified in the field and won't just learn from being placed in English-speaking environments.

"English proficiency is not contagious," Marcus said. "It has to be explicitly taught."

Cheryl Keshner, a language-access advocate with the Empire Justice Center, said the conference sought "to raise awareness" and have advocates share strategies that would help immigrants "access the necessary services" to have better lives here. -- Victor Manuel Ramos

SOUTHAMPTON VILLAGE

Final school district session before vote

Southampton school administrators will hold a final informational session Wednesday evening on a proposed merger with the neighboring Tuckahoe district.

The forum is less than a week before Nov. 18, when taxpayers in both districts will go to the polls to approve or reject moving forward with the plan.

Voters would also have to approve a second referendum in January to complete the merger.

Last year, the proposal passed by a wide margin in Tuckahoe but failed in Southampton.

Proponents say Southampton's plan to annex Tuckahoe would save $4 million in administrative costs and unify two districts that already share a high school and sports teams.

Critics say it would result in a tax hike in Southampton as the district's tax rate and Tuckahoe's are equalized.

If voters in both districts approve the plan, it would begin the first Long Island school merger in a decade.

The forum is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Rogers Memorial Library on Coopers Farm Road in Southampton. -- Will James