With some costs for the upcoming year still unknown, the New Hyde Park Village Board passed a local law at its Tuesday night meeting to enable it to exceed the state-mandated tax cap.
“So we can budget responsibly, we passed this local law,” Village of New Hyde Park Deputy Mayor Robert Lofaro said.
Lofaro said he did not yet know whether the village board would need to exceed the state tax cap.
The village’s pension costs are expected to rise by $30,000 from approximately 357,000 last year to $387,000 in the 2013-14 village budget, Lofaro said. He said village salaries will rise 3.8 percent from $2,005,962.32 in last year’s budget. He said the board does not yet know what health care costs will be for the 2013-14 budget
The board began its initial round of budget deliberations after the public board meeting on Tuesday night. It is scheduled to present the budget at a public hearing on April 2, Lofaro said.
Last year the New Hyde Park board passed a 2012-13 budget of $5.8 million, an increase of approximately $191,000 over the prior year’s village budget of $5.6 million.
The tax levy increased by 2.49 percent to $3.98 million from the prior year’s $3.88 million. That increase was within the parameters of the complex formula for the state tax cap
In other developments:
• Nick Masesso, problem-oriented police officer for the Nassau County Police Department 3rd Precinct, made a brief presentation at Tuesday night’s meeting. He said apart from “a couple of residential burglaries” in New Hyde Park, there have been no major crimes committed in the village recently.
He said there have been many cases of car break-ins through the county and cautioned residents to keep their cars locked and to avoid leaving valuables such as iPads and cell phones in their cars.
Responding to residents’ concerns about teenagers gathering in New Hyde Park Memorial Park at night, Masesso said he would suggest “intensified patrols” around the park to officers on duty in the area.
“I have told them to check on the park in the past, so the know,” he said.
Masesso also reminded residents the St. Baldrick’s Foundation is planning a fundraiser for children with cancer in Marcus Christ Hall on April 2. People volunteer to have their heads shaved at the annual event and collect money from sponsors to support cancer research.
• Village Trustee Donald Barbieri said he expected approval from the state Department of Transportation for the final phase of Project Mainstreet, the village’s plan to upgrade the Jericho Turnpike business district, in a matter of days. Barbieri said had spent much of Tuesday in communication with representatives of the state DOT.
“We have gotten so close to going out to bid on that project,” he said. “We still believe it will happen this spring.”
Aesthetic improvements are planned to make the area more pedestrian-friendly for shoppers. Plans designed by Saratoga Associates include bulb-outs – rounded corners that would extend slightly into the roadway – to be added at locations yet to be determined, along with installation of solid medians with plantings and access to water sources to maintain the plantings.
The New Hyde Park project is being funded through a federal transportation appropriation of $1.425 million secured by U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy under the community block grant program.
• Barbieri said the New Hyde Park Museum is seeking historic photographs from village residents for the museum, which is to be located on the second floor of New Hyde Park Village Hall. The museum is planned as a multimedia exhibit that will include an oral history of the village.
“We’re getting some steam behind this. We might have something to show in the near future,” Barbieri said.
