Town of Hempstead residents rallied on Tuesday ahead of two public hearings on the preliminary 2025 budget, which proposes raising taxes by 4.9%.

The preliminary budget, approved by the town board on Oct. 1, increases taxes by $5 a year for homeowners in incorporated areas and $65 a year for unincorporated areas.

Under the plan, town spending would increase from $522.5 million to just under $550 million, and the town’s tax levies would increase from $346.8 million to $389 million.

“The reality of the fact is that under this proposed plan, a homeowner in an incorporated village would see an average increase of $5 a year, which is less than a cup of coffee nowadays, and residents of unincorporated areas would see an average increase of about $60 a year,” Brian Devine, spokesperson for the town, said in an email.

The preliminary budget was approved by the board on Oct. 1. Hearings were held on Tuesday where town residents aired their concerns about the tax increase.

“I live on a fixed income and I’m literally at the point where I’m thinking of going back to my home in the Caribbean because I can’t afford to live in Nassau County,” Utricia Charles, president of the Argo Civic Association, said.

Charles said $5 may seem like nothing, but it is a lot” for someone who is retired and is living on a fixed income.

Town Comptroller John Mastromarino said Hempstead has been able to postpone tax increases over the past couple of years by using reserve funds. However, he said those funds are running out.

“We could have raised taxes, but instead, we decided to use the extent that we could use with the reserves,” Mastromarino said. “The reserves were used, the taxpayers were protected and it’s now at a point where we just can’t do it anymore because of increases that were mandated from the state, pensions, health insurance, we’re paying more to dispose of our garbage and all these things have piled up.”

Town Supervisor Donald Clavin said Newsday reported the wrong tax rate percentage in a story on Oct. 13, which some residents said would not have happened if the town better informed the public about the proposed budget.

“I don’t care if it was 1%, 4.9% or 12.1% We should have the respect to be notified that you were going to raise our taxes,” Pearl Jacobs, Uniondale resident and president of the Nostrand Gardens Civic Association, said. “I am requesting a tax rebate.”

Kevan Abrahams, the Democratic candidate for the Town of Hempstead District 5 special election, spoke at a rally outside Town Hall, hosted by Nassau Democrats, stating the board snuck this budget past the public.

“There’s no transparency, there’s no visibility,” Abrahams said. “They’re trying to squeak this past you. It’s called a stinky, weasel tax.”

Abrahams said the town sent out dozens of flyers throughout the year, but none of them contained information on the budget.

“I’ve lived here my entire life and I am seeing firsthand the struggles people are having to pay their bills and make ends meet,” Nassau County Legislator Seth Koslow (D–Merrick) said at the rally. “The struggles of having to make a dollar go far enough to buy groceries and now, as a result of fiscal mismanagement by the Republucan majority here in the Town of Hempstead, they’re asking us to bail them out. They’re asking us to make up for the money the spent out of the reserves.”

In a letter included in the budget proposal, Clavin called the town’s $549.1 million budget “fiscally responsible.”

“I am extremely proud that we have not only been able to take them in stride, but also deliver significant relief to taxpayers,” Clavin said in the letter. “Under my stewardship during this time, the Town has a clear record of either freezing or cutting taxes for four consecutive years, and as residents across the Town continue to tighten their belts during this difficult and volatile national economy, every opportunity to save is more important now than ever before.”

Devine said the town has aggressively controlled costs that are within its discretion, while employing cost-saving measures to offset the impact of increases in the costs of unfunded state-mandates.

He said the town looks forward to continuing to craft budgets that “provide for the finest municipal services at the lowest possible cost.”

The next step in the budget process is revising and finalizing the preliminary budget. It then must be adopted by Dec. 20.