The Sands Point budget for the 2019 fiscal year had general fund expenses increase 3.5 percent to $11.8 million and water fund expenses at $2,706,939, according to a village newsletter that also called for state assistance following the loss of property tax deductions in legislation recently approved by Congress.
The newsletter encouraged the state to do what it can to restore deductibility in some form (such as credits against property taxes) or to lower costs for municipalities (such as repealing the “prevailing wage” law, which requires contractors to pay employees the highest, non market rate of pay and thus drives of costs).
“There are ways to channel the frustration, if not anger, felt by many over the loss of most local property tax deductibility,” the newsletter said.
“We should support the Governor’s efforts to explore imaginative ways of restoring deductibility for some portions of the costs of operation of municipalities and school districts,” the newsletter added.
The newsletter also called on the state to remove “some of the root causes of our high local property taxes,” saying they are “well within the power of our state government.”
Water fund expenses will be $2.7 million, a more than 10 percent increase over 2018. Despite that, the trustees said, the village will remain below the state tax cap for the seventh consecutive year.
Mayor Ed Adler wrote in a newsletter that settling the police contract afforded the village predictability when it came to the budget.
Because of this, the village was able to increase the contingency line item from $434,000 in the 2018 budget to $460,000 for 2019. He wrote that this will help to cover retirement pay for police officers, along with future road, curbing and drainage projects.
Despite the fact that the village has now stayed under the tax cap for seven years, Adler called the cap unnecessary.
“I’ve railed against the cap for many years,” he said. “Not because I don’t agree with keeping the taxes as low as possible, that’s always been our goal. However, the randomness of the application of the cap, which has varied from .7 of a percent up to this year of about 2.5 percent, the cap each year bears no relation to our costs.”
More than half of the general expense fund goes to police personnel, benefits, and expenses. The purchase of a new truck increased the water fund budget by $30,000.
Major capital expenses for the budget include the purchase of a new police vehicle and a backup generator for Village Hall. The letter said that it was “likely” that the budget would include money to install a gas line from Tibbets Lane to Village Hall.
The letter on the budget was released to village residents in anticipation of a public hearing on it at Tuesday’s meeting. But no one came to speak on the issue.
The trustees did not spend much time discussing the budget at their meeting, instead they turned their attention to the Village Club.
West Side Engineering was engaged to review the sanitary system at the club’s poolhouse.
“We need to do some engineering for the sanitary disposal system at the poolhouse, which is in the process of being renovated,” Adler said. “The system was put in the poolhouse… probably in the 1950s.”
The board of trustees also approved the solicitation of bids for non-golf course landscaping at the Village Club and considered purchasing additional pool furniture.
At the end of the meeting, the board paused to commend the Sands Point Police for their work at the March for Our Lives event on Saturday, even though it cost the village to have extra officers working that night.
“It demonstrated the professionalism of our police force, and I agree this was money well spent,” said Deputy Mayor Marc Silbert.
