The Village of East Williston’s Board of Trustees moved to adopt the proposed budget for the 2020–2021 fiscal year following a virtual public hearing held April 6.
The budget accounts for the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic on individual residents and the village as a whole.
The budget proposal calls for a 1.74 percent tax levy increase, which amounts to a per household increase of approximately $40, said Treasurer Michael Delury. The main reason for the uptick is a $35,240 increase in sanitation collection cost. The village is using the same sanitation provider as least year, but the cost of using this provider has increased. It was the lowest bidder even with the increase, Parente said.
The tax rate will increase from 84.6267 to 85.7025.
The village is transitioning to LED street lights, which Delury said will lower annual street lighting costs.
East Williston is awaiting confirmation from its state representative that the village will receive a grant for this project. If the state does not provide a grant, the village reserve fund will be used for the upgrade instead.
The 2020–2021 budget is $2,694,579. This is a $138,017 increase from last year’s budget, mainly due to decreased utilization of the reserve fund.
“In years past, in at least the last seven years, we have not had an increase,” said Mayor Bonnie Parente. “It is because we used a significant amount of money from our reserves, our capital fund. In those times it was responsible to do so . . . you don’t want to have too much money in your capital reserves, because then the current people are saving money for future people.”
In response to a question from East Williston resident Richard Corrado about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the budget proposal, Parente said the board met several times to consider the potential economic effects of COVID-19 on residents and the village as a whole.
“The treasurer and I worked together and came up with the $30,000 potential loss of revenue based on this shutdown. It’s currently projected that it might be less than $30,000, but we are overestimating for now,” said Parente. “We have fund reserves if there are any further unexpected costs in addition to those projected.”
Much of the $30,000 projected loss is expected to come from building permits due to the ban on nonessential construction.
The village will waive late fees and enter into payment plans for water bills in order to ease some of the economic burden on residents, Parente added. The board will re-examine the financial burden on residents on a regular basis and will further alleviate or delay costs if necessary.
The board expects water consumption to drastically increase. Because most residents are currently quarantined in their homes, they are using more water than usual.
College students who are currently living at home due to shutdowns of colleges and universities add to household water consumption as well, Parente said.
“Every day that [residents] are home, they are using water even if you are trying to be as conservative as you can with consumption,” added Dunne. “They are using our water supply, not somebody else’s.”
Residents can access the budget at www.eastwilliston.org.
