Politics & Government

Malverne Village Board Considers Overriding Tax Cap [Poll]

Says override would safeguard the village from paying penalty fees.

The Malverne village board is toying with the idea of voting to override the

The plan is to still craft a budget that comes in under the cap, Deputy Mayor Joseph Hennessy stated at Wednesday's board meeting, but he explained that passing the override would spare the village from paying costly penalties if they "made a math error" that caused them to mistakenly go over it.

Hennessy, who serves at the board's budget director said he has met with the heads of all the village's departments and told them that their individual budgets could not be higher than what they were last year and that he preferred they took a 5 percent cut.

Find out what's happening in Malverne-Lynbrookwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"We have been fortunate that we haven't had to lay anyone off, and we're trying our best to continue that pratice," he said. "It's our goal to meet the 2 percent or less...We've been pretty close over the years." (Last year, the $ for the village increases taxes by 2.79 percent.)

Like other municipalities, the village is grappling with skyrocketing health care and pension costs, which Hennessy said went up $35,000 from last year and is out of the local officials' control because the "state runs the pension fund."

Find out what's happening in Malverne-Lynbrookwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Among the ways the village is working to keep its other expenses down, he explained, are through refinancing, through a bond issue, its , new building and the new DPW vehicles it is purchasing. "This is all going to be done without increasing the costs of debt," he said. "We eliminated some debt and this is just replacing it."

However, the board may follow in the foosteps of their counterparts in other villages and vote to override the cap to avoid being hit with any penalty fees in the event they exceed the 2 percent should their calculations be off.

"For safety's sake you pass the law for protection.  It doesn't mean you're going to go over the 2-percent but it gives you the ability to do it if you had to," Hennessy said.

If the board does decide to take this route they would have to hold a public hearing on the matter before putting it to a vote. Unlike the local school districts, whose fates rest in the hands of the public and to override the cap, the members of the village board would decide if their budget is allowed to exceed the cap.

The board's decision would need to take place soon as they must submit their draft budget to the clerk by March 20.

Do you think the village board should pass the override? Vote in our poll and comment in the space below.


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