By Joseph D’Andrea
The Village of Great Neck plans on meeting Friday to vote on their 2023-24 budget, which is still due to be finalized by May 1.
Among several increases in the proposed budget are total general government support — subsidies and incentives from the local, state and federal levels — which is up 5%, amounting to a $196,000 difference from last year, as well as an 8% rise in the fire services contract.
“Even if you reduce [fire services] to 3.5%, you’d have to pay for their firefighter pension,” said Village Clerk-Treasurer Abraham Cohan. Although they are volunteer firefighters, they still are required to receive some compensation from the fire company, he said.
“Fire Hydrant rental has gone up significantly to almost $611 per fire hydrant in the village per year,” he said. “We have about 235 fire hydrants in the village, so we have to budget for that, which would be $145,000.”
In response to a trustee’s concern about the price of fire hydrants continuing to rise, Cohan clarified that the fire company has a liaison and board who have made decisions that led to the increases over the past three years.
Cohan also spoke about revenue: “If you don’t increase the [tax] levy, it’s going to remain at $7,451,791″ Cohan said he allocated $40,000 to the prior year’s real property taxes, according to the budget.
Due to PSEG Long Island’s charges rising — specifically per-kilowatt hours rates — energy and pole rental of street lights has been increased $5,000 in the board’s tentative budget.
On a more positive note, the board mentioned that they have saved almost $60,000 as a result of the installation of more LED lights since 2015, a change that Mayor Pedram Bral believes they “can do even better” on.
Another noteworthy positive is that the village’s debt service has dropped from $1,014,068 to $900,224 over the past year.
Speaking about the roughly 5% increase in personal services of the clerk-treasurer — labor costs including salary and benefits — Cohan said it will be offset by a reduction in bank charges, which has come about due to a more competent law staff having been hired and a more efficient utilization of the trust money given to the board.
“The actual cost of the village has drastically gone down,” Cohan said. “Last year, we budgeted $180,000 [for billable hours], and I think it is safe to say that if the budget is only $120,000, we should be fine.”
An estimated $2 million is still allocated for the new village hall, but the tentative budget shows a decrease in repairs and services, partly due to the digitization of paper assets and the recent meetings taking place in the board’s temporary location at 767 Middle Neck Road.
“For public safety inspection fees, I have increased it,” Cohan said. “Year after year, we hit our mark and surpass it. There are a lot of renovations going on in the village, and so it is very safe to increase that line to $500,000.”
The board’s next public meeting will take place on Friday, April 28, at 8:30 a.m. at the aforementioned site.