Port Washington North trustees on Wednesday approved a $9,805,830 budget for 2016-17 that calls for a $23,330 increase of spending from last year.
Village Clerk Palma Torrisi said $5,950,000 of the budget is going towards the village’s continuing work on Phase two of the Bay Walk.
Torrisi said the village board is waiting to award the bid to a contractor.
The master plan for the Bay Walk includes a kayak launch station, new benches and lighting and a garden.
Village treasurer Mary Jo Bella said with a tax levy of $1,302,830 the village remained under the state-mandated tax cap.
“We did stay under the tax cap, which was not 2 percent this year it was .12 percent,” Bella said. “In order to do that we had to cut expenses.”
“We cut sidewalks and we cut roads,” Port Washington North Mayor Robert Weitzner said. “Not to the point of effecting services for the village, absolutely not, but given the tax cap and everything we’re experiencing.”
Village trustees scheduled a public hearing for their next board meeting on May 4 to propose a law that forbids inoperative vehicles from being parked on the street.
The village will also hold a public hearing to propose a law to forbid inoperative vehicles from being parked on private property.
Traffic Safety Commissioner Steve Kaplan said at the last meeting on March 2 that he’s concerned about junk cars being in public view.
Kaplan said he saw a pick up truck parked in a resident’s driveway but is in plain sight of the public, and has a flat tire making it appear as inoperable. It is also missing the back license plate.
“It’s an eyesore,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan said he wants a revision to village law to prohibit broken cars from being parked in public view.
“A junk car shouldn’t be left out in public,” he said.
The trustees concluded at the March 2 meeting that because the pick up truck doesn’t have a back license plate and also has a flat tire, there is reason enough for them to send the resident a letter.
“If there’s no plate on the car it is deemed unregistered,” Weitzner said.
Weitzner said cars in disrepair parked in public view is not a major problem in the village.
Kaplan also raised concerns about the making right turns on red at the exit of Stop & Shop supermarket, located at 65 Shore Road in Port Washington.
“I’d like to consider a no turn on red coming out of Stop & Shop,” Kaplan said. “If you don’t look really well coming down and we know cars are coming down Old Shore Road pretty fast someone is going to get killed.”
The board members agreed and made a resolution to hold a public hearing to place a no turn on red sign at the light.
