The East Hills village board accepted a 2024-2025 budget of $15,022,322 with a tax levy of $8,988,454 during a meeting Thursday night, making this the 14th year in a row without an increase in taxes.

The budget is up $1,341,795 from the 2023-2024 budget, which was $13,680,527. The 2023-2024 tax levy was $8,948,488.

The total revenue in the 2024-2025 budget is $3,326,908.

Mayor Michael Koblenz said the board works very hard on maintaining a zero percent tax increase for residents each year. In his budget memo to the village, Koblenz wrote that passing the budget without a tax increase required “considerable constraint” and called the budget a “great accomplishment.”

“Fourteen years, guys. No increase,” Koblenz said to the village trustees after they accepted the budget.

Most nearby villages regularly pass yearly tax increases for residents. This year in particular, neighboring mayors have cited spikes in health insurance rates and retirement benefits as reasons for village tax increases.

“For the past few years, many costs associated with providing village services continue to rise,” Floral Park Mayor Kevin Fitzgerald said. “This upcoming year will certainly be no exception to that, as inflation continues to have a significant impact on our daily lives.”

Floral Park is experiencing a nearly 7% increase in health insurance, a nearly 33% increase in the village’s required deposit to the state requirement fund and a 10% increase into the police retirement fund, Fitzgerald said.

The Village of Floral Park is proposing a 2024-2025 budget with a 2.43% tax levy increase.

Mineola Mayor Paul Pereira said the village is getting hit with increases in health insurance and pension costs.

Health and medical insurance costs are up $400,000 in the tentative budget, Mineola Treasurer Giacomo Ciccone said. And Mineola is facing a $75,000 increase in pension costs, Ciccone said.

The Village of Mineola is proposing a 2024-2025 budget with a 1.77% tax levy increase.

While Koblenz celebrated the budget Thursday night, he emphasized in his memo to residents that there is more to resident taxes than just village taxes.

“It should be stressed that Village taxes generally amount to only 16%-17% of all taxes paid by our residents,” Koblenz wrote. “Yet, even with our rather limited portion of all taxes paid, we shoulder the entire costs of sanitation, snow removal, paving our roads, security, the pool, the park, fees for Nassau County police, administration for our programs and fire protection.”