Proposed Smithtown budget offers tax decrease for average homeowner
Supervisor Patrick Vecchio said the proposed budget will result in tax reductions for the average Smithtown homeowner. (March 19, 2013) Credit: Brittany Wait
Smithtown officials plan to hold a public hearing Thursday on the town’s proposed $104.4 million budget plan for 2014.
The meeting — at 7 p.m. at the Eugene A. Cannataro Senior Citizen Center, 420 Middle Country Rd. — will allow members of the public to comment or ask questions, officials said.
Smithtown officials earlier this month unveiled the tentative 2014 budget, which calls for increased spending by 0.71 percent over the current year’s $103.6 million budget, but does not raise taxes or lay off workers.
The average Smithtown home assessed at $5,500 would pay about $1,219.54 — $13.12 less in overall taxes this year.
“There is a decrease in taxes to the average homeowner,” Smithtown Supervisor Patrick Vecchio said during the initial budget presentation.
Smithtown saved money from about five jobs eliminated through attrition, as well as a roughly $700,000 balance remaining from an estimated increase in hospitalization funds this year and about a $300,000 increase in mortgage taxes, Vecchio said.
Smithtown’s tentative budget includes contractual raises for unionized white-collar and blue-collar workers, but no pay increases for elected officials.
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