Village of Kings Point trustees set a public hearing date Thursday to consider the village’s proposed $16.88 million budget for 2016-17, which calls for a 1.1 percent increase in spending over last year.
While the budget calls for an increase in money collected in property taxes by about $71,000 to $15 million, Village Clerk-Treasurer Gomie Persaud said taxes would decrease for residents because of an increase in the assessed valuation of homes.
In the current budget, the village collects $40.73 per $100 of home assessed valuation, but in the proposed budget, the village would collect $40.29 per $100 of assessed valuation.
Persaud said the village’s taxable assessed valuation increased due to the completion of homes that were under construction when developing the current budget.
The village’s largest expenditure in the tentative budget is about $7.23 million for public safety, which includes police department, fire department and safety inspection costs.
The village’s police force accounts for 49 percent — $6.3 million — of the proposed budget.
The village is also proposing spending $1.35 million, or about 10 percent, of its budget on a contract for fire and ambulance services with the Great Neck Alert Fire Company.
The board will hold a public hearing and vote on the proposed budget on April 20 at 8:15 p.m.
At Thursday’s meeting, the board also voted to pass a local law allowing the village to exceed the state-mandated tax cap, which this year is set at .12 percent.
Persaud said the tentative budget calls for the village to collect about $5,000 less than what the tax cap allows as a “protective measure.”
“If there’s a clerical error or emergency from now until the budget has to be adopted, we have to protect residents and the village,” she said.
