Mineola finances get high marks

Richard Tedesco

The Village of Mineola received a clean bill of financial health from its outside auditors at last Wednesday night’s village board meeting.

“The village is in excellent financial condition,” William Barrett of Rynkar, Vail and Barrett LLP.

Barrett said the village currently maintains a reserve of $3,418,000, which is 4 percent of the village budget.

The village’s 2013-14 budget is $19.03 million, an increase of approximately 1 percent over last year’s $18.86 million budget.

Barrett said the village currently has $15.3 million in bonds outstanding, $300,000 less than a year ago. 

Barrett said there were no disagreements with the village’s financial records and no “discrepancies” noted.

He also said the village has received $500,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for reimbursement from costs incurred from Hurricane Sandy.  

“I like to thank you for making us look good,” said Village of Mineola Deputy Mayor Paul Pereira.

Village Trustee George Durham said that if trustees continued the current debt management plan, the village could be debt-free in 14 years.

“Or sooner,” Pereira said.

Pereira was presiding at the board meeting in the absence of Village of Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss, who had touted the village debt management plan in his state of the village speech in September. 

Strauss said at the time that Mineola’s bonded indebtedness has decreased from $33 million to $19 million under a financial plan initiated by former Mineola Mayor Jack Martins 10 years ago.

In other business, village Superintendent of Public Works Thomas Rini reported that village contractor Roadwork Ahead has completed the village’s portion of the Bruce Terrace flood control project, dividing a drainage basin at Westbury and Sheridan Avenues to effectively create two separate basins.

“The wall between the two recharge basins has been completed. So if there is a heavy rainfall there will be no problem,” Rini said. “At least at this point, it’s functioning by design and that’s a good thing.”

The village joined with the Town of North Hempstead and Nassau County to complete the $4.5 million project intended to relieve drainage problems on the border of Mineola and Carle Place.

The village’s $1.7 million portion of the work included installation of two new drainage manholes, four new drainage basins and removal of approximately 300 feet of existing 18-inch drainage pipe now replaced with a new 30-inch drainage pipe on Bruce Terrace.

The village, the town and the county each received $800,000 in state grants to cover $2.4 million of the cost.

Rini also reported the village had completed contract requirements for a road construction project on Jefferson, Washington and Lincoln avenues. The village board committed $500,000 for road repairs in its current budget.

“We can look forward to getting that started and getting that over quickly,” Rini said. 

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