Village of Great Neck trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to allow the village to override the state-mandated tax cap when preparing the 2016-17 village budget.
Village Clerk-Treasurer Joe Gill said the New York Conference of Mayors suggests villages adopt this type of law as a precautionary measure in the event the budget ends up piercing the tax cap.
“The guidance from NYCOM is to pass a local law just in case we want to, on purpose or by accident, exceed the tax cap this fiscal year,” Gill said.
He also said for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins in June, the village faces a .0012 percent tax cap, or about an $8,500 increase to last year’s budget.
Village of Great Neck Mayor Pedram Bral said he promised to make every effort to not pierce the tax cap.
The village will have two budget meetings on March 1 and March 15, beginning at 5 p.m. on both days.
Village Deputy Clerk Katie Dugan said the board was hoping to set a budget public hearing date on either April 1 or April 15.
Also at the meeting, the board unanimously voted to move the site of June’s village election from the Great Neck House to Village Hall.
“The last few elections that have brought out more people have created problems by using the Great Neck House,” Gill said.
He added that the combination of voters and those going to Great Neck House for other activities creates problems for parking and limited spacing inside the building.
“Obviously at Village Hall we can control whose here and the traffic,” Gill said. “We would expect to use some of the parking lot of the school that surrounds us.”
He also said he believed Village Hall could house a similar number of people to the Great Neck House.
The election is scheduled for June 21.
The next board meeting is on Feb. 16.
