The Floral Park Board of Trustees approved a $33.9 million budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year on Tuesday night.
The $33,862,111 budget represents an $848,505 increase from the current year, a 2.57 percent rise.
General funds amount to $31,226,174 for the upcoming fiscal year, a 2.28 percent increase in spending.
For the village’s library and pool, the budgets were $1.5 million and $1.2 million, respectively.
Property taxes will rise $501,633 and the tax rate for homeowners will be 14.2432, a 2.26 percent increase from the previous fiscal year.
In unrelated village business, the Floral Park Fire Department swore in a new staff following this year’s elections. Chief of the Department Michael Saville resigned following a lengthy and emotional speech thanking the village, department and his family for all their help during his time.
“It’s been an honor and privilege to serve as chief of the Floral Park Fire Department,” Saville said. “It was a humbling experience and I believe we have made great strides in many areas.”
The new leadership for the department includes James Dodson as chief of the department, Brian Hamerman as first assistant chief, Daniel Bennett as second assistant chief, Gil Luger as third assistant chief and Eric O’Connor as the new fourth assistant chief. Dodson, Hamerman and Bennett were already on the chief staff of the department before Saville’s resignation, and O’Connor now comes on board for the first time. Each chief was sworn in by Mayor Kevin Fitzgerald.
Deputy Mayor Lynn Pombonyo, liaison to the Fire Department, thanked Saville for his service alongside the rest of the trustees and praised members of the department for their commitment to the safety of each other and the village residents.
“Whether you were leading the department and its leaders into a fire emergency situation or training operations, they could count on you to lead others into making the right decisions for the right reasons; always with the care and safety of all our citizens or firefighters, rescue staff or police and other first responders,” Pombonyo said.