Plan would let Babylon top tax hike cap

Babylon Village trustees on Tuesday scheduled a public hearing on a local measure allowing them to exceed if necessary the state’s 2 percent cap on tax levy increases in the 2012-2013 budget, and Mayor Ralph Scordino said trustees generally support its passage.

The scheduled March 13 hearing comes as the village faces stagnant revenues and rising costs in employee benefits and line items such as fuel, according to Scordino, who added that the small scale of the village budget — $8.1 million last year — would make working under the cap difficult.

“A 2 percent increase amounts to $160,000-something,” he said. “What are you going to do about all these mandated costs that we have no control over?”

Cutting services is a last resort, he said: “That’s why people live in the village.”

More than a third of Long Island’s villages have passed similar legislation.

Babylon’s budget is due March 20. Last year’s budget increased the property tax by 3.73 percent, or 45 cents per every $100 of assessed value.

Above: Babylon Village Hall