Flower Hill trustees approved a $3,528,225 village budget Monday for the 2015-16 fiscal year that includes a 2.09 percent spending increase and a 1.1 percent tax levy decrease from 2014-15.
The budget is made up of $3,011,825 in village expenditures and $516,400 in separate fire expenses, with $1,583,227 anticipated in non-tax revenue, according to the village’s budgetary document.
In the next year, Flower Hill will look to raise $1,428,598 in taxes, down from $1,444,623 in 2014-15, according to the document.
The total marks the second straight year the village decreased its overall tax levy, and the third in which it did not raise taxes.
Flower Hill’s tax rate is $34.20, according to the budget document.
The tax decrease can be traced to a 5.4 percent increase – or $81,122 – in anticipated non-tax revenue from 2014-15. Flower Hill anticipates $45,000 more in licenses and permits to account for a rise in construction within the village in the last year, as well as an additional $40,000 in fund balance transfer funds.
Among the village’s costliest projected expenditures are within its building department, which according to its working budget document is slated to increase $25,234, from 187,460 to $212,694, as well as special items, for which the board has appropriated $224,000 – up from $199,000 in 2014-15 – in the next year.
In other developments:
• The Board of Trustees and planning board, in a joint public hearing, approved under various conditions an application to subdivide a portion of the property at 67 Knollwood Road and change the zoning of the subdivided land from residential to commercial use.
The hearing was for the owners of Arhaus furniture, who also own the adjacent commercial property at 15-25 Port Washington Blvd. and were seeking to add about 1,000 square feet of land from the residential parcel.
During a hearing in March, officials requested the application be revised to include additional screening for neighboring residents.
The boards approved the application on the condition that even more screening be installed based upon recommendations from the Flower Hill village arborist, and that the applicant submit a written description of its revisions.
The application was also approved on the condition that the subdivision be approved by the Village of Munsey Park, which was required because the property borders the two villages.
• Village Clerk Ronnie Shatzkamer last month was designated a certified municipal clerk by the International Institute of Municipal Clerks Inc.
Clerks eligible for the distinction must complete various education requirements and have a record of significant contribution to their municipality, said Brenda Kay Young, the organization’s president, in an email.
Reach reporter Bill San Antonio by e-mail at bsanantonio@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516.307.1045 x215 and on Twitter @ Bill_SanAntonio. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
