The town of Babylon's proposed 2015 budget will lower taxes for most residents

Town of Babylon Supervisor Richard Schaffer has proposed a $138.5 million budget for 2015 that is balanced by savings from a renegotiated residential garbage contract and other cost-cutting.

All town services will be maintained, he said.

The proposed budget represents a 1.1 percent decrease from the current one, with town property taxes dropping slightly for most residents. The average household would pay $1,195.15, keeping the town beneath its state-imposed tax-levy cap of 1.56 percent for 2015.

Garbage collection would account for $258.17 of that tax bill, $55 less than last year, as the town starts to see savings from a 10-year contract for service with Westbury-based EnCon Industries Corp. signed in 2012, Schaffer said. That contract is potentially worth $84 million over 10 years, significantly less than the one it replaced, according to town officials.

Because the villages of Babylon and Lindenhurst have their own garbage collection and do not pay taxes into the town garbage fund, residents there would not reap the benefits of that savings and would pay about $8 more on their town tax bill.

Residents of the village of Amityville, who do use the town's garbage collection, would save about $47 annually.

"I foresee us being able to maintain this lower rate," Schaffer said.

While the town's pension and insurance obligations grew overall, he said, the growth was slower this year than it has been in past years.

There may be cause for modest hope on the revenue side, Schaffer said. While the 2009 financial crisis and superstorm Sandy continue to depress mortgage tax revenue and assessed valuations, "signs out of the Building Department show us that people are beginning to do more development," he said.

The town will nevertheless continue to practice what Schaffer called "cautious" budgeting.