In its first public budget hearing last Wednesday, the Village of Mineola Board of Trustees presented a preliminary budget of $18.5 million, a 2.16 percent year-to-year increase over 2011, which includes cost reductions for the village Department of Public Works.
To help reduce costs to the village, senior employees of the Department of Public Works were offered early retirement incentives, which several workers decided to take, according to Village of Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss.
The village saw a significant reduction to their current salary costs, resulting from DPW workers taking advantage of early retirement incentive, saving the village more than $155,000, Strauss said.
“I want to thank the department heads for buckling down,” Strauss said. “They really held the line on spending.”
Medical insurance went up more than $400,000, while employee pensions went up $247,000 and union contracts saw a $235,000 increase.
Strauss also said that the tax levy will increase this year by 3.65 percent, resulting from the increased costs to employee health benefits, employee pensions and union contracts.
“The tax levy increase will amount to people paying about $5 more a month on their taxes,” Strauss said. “It pains me to have to raise taxes, because I know that $5 can mean a lot to some people.”
Strauss said taxes would not have increased at all this year, if it was not for the nearly $900,000 increase to costs, which they have no control over.
Reductions in the budget were also a result of the village opting out of a waste disposal contract with the Town of North Hempstead, according to Strauss. The village changed to a private waste disposal company called Omni Recycling.
While there is no formal date set to vote on the village budget, village officials need to vote on a budget by May 1, according to Village Clerk Joseph Scalero.
