Village of Great Neck Plaza trustees unanimously approved a 2016-17 village budget on Jan. 20 that calls for a nearly 15 percent increase in spending over last year at $7.4 million.
Village of Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender said taxpayers will not feel the cost of the increase as most of the new spending will be for infrastructure and maintenance projects covered by grants .
“We are doing infrastructure improvements and that’s significant even with all the constraints of the tax cap,” Celender said. “We’re making proposed improvements and starting to do road reconstruction.”
In January 2014, the village received a $838,000 state grant for a Transportation Enhancement Project aimed to improve roads on Shoreward Drive and Welwyn Road.
The project is expected to begin in the fall of 2016, Celender said.
While village spending would increase, the amount raised by village property taxes would decrease from last year’s budget.
The village plans to raise $2,682,349 in property taxes in the 2016-17 budget year, nearly $50,000 less than the $2,731,067 raised in 2015-16.
Celender said the average household in the village would see a $9 decrease, with households paying between $250 and $500 in village property taxes.
“Our village taxes are very low in comparison to what some of the households pay in taxes because a chunk of what they’re paying is school taxes and county taxes,” she said.
Celender also said she was “pleased” to present a budget staying within the state’s .45 percent property tax cap.
