The Village of Great Neck Plaza Board of Trustees approved a $6,469,260 budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year on Wednesday that would increase village spending by more than 20 percent or $1,111,886, but which trustees said would be within the 2 percent tax cap.
Village of Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender said at the board’s meeting that the tax rate for the village will increase from 4.44 per $100 valued assessment to 4.77.
“Unfortunately there is a small increase,” Celender said. “We had a number of tax certioraris where assessments had come down.”
Celender said the increase in taxes is also the result of two capital improvement projects that the village will finance with a cost of about $1 million with the expectation that it will receive most of the money back through grants from the state.
Village of Great Neck Plaza Clerk and Treasurer Patricia O’Byrne said the village intends to update the Maple Drive lot with porous pavement and other green upgrades with the aid of a Green Innovation Grant Program grant and fix a section of road near Welwyn Road and Shorward Drive with the aid of a Transportation Enhancement Program grant.
O’Byrne said the village plans to get 90 percent of the money back for the Welwyn Road and Shorward Drive work and 80 percent of the Maple Drive work.
But, Celender said, the village will initially have to lay out all the money through taxes.
O’Byrne said the village plans to collect $2,731,067 in property taxes – $135,193 more than the previous year – to offset the original cost of the projects
In other business, the village trustees approved the village election to be held March 18 in Village Hall from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Trustees Gerry Schneiderman and Lawrence Katz are both seeking re-election, and Great Neck attorney Jonathan Stein has announced his intention to run.
