Politics & Government

Village Board Approves $5.4M Budget

The tax rate increase will be less than three percent.

The approved a $5,492,191 budget for 2011-12 year this week, which calls for a 2.85 percent tax levy increase and maintains Village services.

“If we did everything the way we did it last year, changed nothing, we would have to raise taxes six percent, between New York State pension contributions, health benefits and workmen’s compensation,” said Mayor George Starkie at the public hearing on the budget on April 4.

The tax rate for households will increase $.003129 per $1,000 of assessed value, while the tax rate of commercial properties will increase $.005679 per $1,000 of assessed value, on average.

Find out what's happening in Farmingdalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Village revenue is estimated to decrease by $10,621, while spending will increase by $151,552 from last year due to the mandatory contributions described by the mayor above.

Highlights of this year’s budget include using $50,000 from the reserves, bringing parking ticket revenue down to $410,000 (which peaked at $565,000 a few years back) and appropriating contingency money in certain categories before-hand. This leaves $50,000 for contingency, down from $200,000 last year.

Find out what's happening in Farmingdalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We’re applying it ahead of time,” Mayor Starkie said. “If you look at certain expenses there were substantial increases so we had to appropriate some of that money.”

No layoffs are envisioned in the budget. A full copy of the Village's budget is located in the photo gallery.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here