The New Hyde Park Village Board anticipates struggling with difficult financial issues in the year ahead due to burgeoning employee pension and health care costs, but Deputy Mayor Robert Lofaro sought to assure residents at Monday night’s board meeting that the trustees will work to hold the line.
“2011 will again be a challenging year for us with the budget,” Lofaro said. “We’ll try very hard to keep taxes in check for the residents of the village,”
After the meeting, Lofaro said that part of the pressure on village finances will come from a previously negotiated increase of 3.8 percent for the Department of Public Works employees, now in the fifth year of a six-year contract. He noted that the village will benefit from overall salary reductions in the wake of the retirements of DPW Superintendent Jim McCloat and Edward Kotarski, DPW administrative assistant.
Lofaro is anticipating additional pressure from assessment appeals when assessments are set on April 1. The board is planning budget work sessions for February and March, Lofaro said.
“We could actually reduce costs and we’d still have to raise taxes,” Lofaro said.
Lofaro reported that the board is currently interviewing candidates for the DPW administrative assistant position. Thomas Gannon was tapped to be the new DPW superintendent while retaining his position as head of the village building department, which effectively represented a cost-cutting move.
In a move to centralize village offices, Lofaro said the offices of the DPW, building department and village clerk will now be co-located in Village Hall. The DPW office had been located at its base of operations on Stewart Avenue.
Refurbishment of the second floor theater in Village Hall has been completed, and Lofaro said the board will likely hold one of its January meetings in that space. He thanked village clerk Pat Farrell for coordinating the design of the theater with the assistance of resident Jerry Limoncelli.
The project was largely funded with an $80,000 grant from outgoing state Sen. Craig Johnson, and Lofaro also thanked Johnson for his effort.
But acknowledging newly-elected state Sen. Jack Martins, Lofaro noted that the board plans to meet with Martins and his staff soon to discuss the village’s needs. “He’s hitting the ground running and wed’ll ask him for help as we’d ask any other elected official.”
Trustee Donald Barbieri reported that the state Department of Transportation will be reviewing the village’s plans for revamping Jericho Turnpike with bulbouts – rounded sidewalk corners – and other new features early next year. Those changes are part of an upgrade of the village’s business district that has been in process over the past several years.
“Soon into the new year, the final plans will be in the hands of the DOT. We’re getting near the end of the project,” Barbieri said.
