Smithtown 2015 budget includes cuts, raises, job transfers

Smithtown town's tentative 2015 budget calls for a modest tax increase, a one-stop recycling plan and raises -- for more than 400 union workers and the deputy supervisor.

Smithtown's proposed $104.6 million budget plan would increase spending by .21 percent over the current year's $104.37 million budget. The average Smithtown home assessed at $5,500 would pay about $1,231.20 -- $11.66 more in overall taxes.

The town's tax levy is planned at $54.1 million -- below the maximum $55.4 million allowed under the state tax cap. Comptroller Louis Necroto said the tax cap was lowered by .82 percent compared to last year, making it more difficult to stay within it.

"It's almost like a punishment in a way. 'You lowered taxes, so now we're going to lower your tax cap,' " he said. "Payroll is going up, health care is going up . . . the tax cap, I don't think is keeping that in mind."

A key budget component is the relocation of 21 of the highway department's roughly 140 workers, officials said.

"These men who are devoted to brush and leaf pickup in the highway department will now do it out of the solid-waste division where there is money to pay for them," said Smithtown Supervisor Patrick Vecchio.

The transfer allows the town to lower the highway tax by $101.92 per house assessed at $5,500, Vecchio said.

Smithtown Highway Superintendent Glenn Jorgensen said Monday that some details of the personnel transfer "will have to be worked out," but acknowledged that he was worried about losing heavy-equipment operators since winter snow removal is a priority.

Jorgensen said the employees who drive trucks for the sanitation department will help him plow snow in inclement weather, and added that another department will take over sidewalk repair.

To cut more than $600,000 in annual recycling costs, Smithtown plans to ink a deal with the Town of Brookhaven for single-stream recycling. The measure will allow residents to dispose of their recycling without having to sort it for weekly pickups and avoids spending $2 to $4 million to upgrade aging recycling equipment.

The budget plan includes contractual raises for about 30 SAG and 400 CSEA employees under the terms of their collective bargaining agreements. It also calls for a $30,000 increase -- from $5,000 to $35,000 -- in the stipend that Councilman Thomas McCarthy receives as deputy town supervisor. The budget includes no salary increases for other elected officials.

Community input is welcome at a budget hearing Oct. 23.