Massapequa Park passes 3% tax hike

Massapequa Park has passed its 2011-12 budget with a spending increase of less than 2 percent — and a tax increase of 3 percent.

At its regular meeting Monday, the village board unanimously approved the $6.17-million budget, which doesn’t eliminate any of the village’s roughly 40 jobs, said Mayor James Altadonna Jr.

The property tax rate will increase from $9.37 per $100 assessed valuation  to $9.65, representing $19.68 more for an average assessed home. It will bring an additional $106,373 to the tax rolls. The board is also using $575,282 in surplus cash to balance the budget.

Altadonna called the spending plan “bare bones,” but said continued cost increases for employee medical insurance and state retirement contributions necessitated the tax increase. Revenue, meanwhile, is estimated to drop slightly, from $5.64 million last year to $5.55 million in 2011-12.

“We felt we spent our money wisely, where it needed to be spent,” the mayor said at a public hearing last month, adding that work such as road maintenance and street light upgrades would still go forward.