The Kensington Board of Trustees unanimously passed a $3.3 million budget last week for 2011 that includes no cost increases to local residents.
But the regularly scheduled meeting was dominated by residents’ concerns over rising costs and board criticism of neighboring villages and Nassau County regarding security, snow removal and traffic.
Village of Kensington Mayor Susan Lopatkin at one point implied that the Village of Kensington did a better job than Great Neck Plaza in removing snow and, at another, suggested that Kings Points residents move to Kensington if they wanted improved police protection.
“I have friends in Kings Point who have been livid at what they perceive to be the lack of attention given by their police department and their local officials on what’s happening in that community … they should move here,” said Lopatkin.
Village Trustee Greg Keller at another point contended that morale was better in the Village of Kensington Police force than Great Neck Estates.
The officials’ criticism of the other municipalities followed their announcement that Kensington has kept costs at the same levels as 2010 despite higher costs.
“When we finished sharpening our pencils, the amount of money that we need to raise from taxes in this village has basically not changed because we were able to look at things very closely and make adjustments and changes were we needed to.”
But Lopatkin warned that residents could see some changes in taxes based on county assessments which affect village rates.
“If your assessment went down more than your neighbor’s, then your taxes will go down in the village and your neighbors’ taxes will go up – and vice versa,” said Lopatkin. According to the mayor, the total village tax value is down 8 percent for 2011.
Board members focused particularly on the mounting cost of funding the village’s six-member police squad – budgeted at more than $1 million for 2011.
Keller said police will remain the largest element of the village’s budget and expenditures will continue to increase to fund it.
“There is no question about it, it is a very highly paid police force,” said Keller, speaking about contract negotiations between the village and police expected to take place in about a year.
“How much money can we save on negotiating their salaries down or limiting the upside of their salaries and what does that going do to the quality of the service that we get?” he asked.
To justify the need and high costs associated with maintaining a police force, Keller compared police in Kensington to those in a nearby village.
In Great Neck Estates, Keller said, the relationship between residents and government with police is not nearly as good as in Kensington, and police there are not “paid as well.” He also said the morale in Great Neck Estates is “not nearly as good” as in Kensington.
Serving 325 homes and about 1,200 people, Kensington police will make an average of $164,769 this year, according to the 2011 village budget. The village will also pay police $257,487 for state-mandated retirement – an increase of 33 percent more than last year.
Keller said most costs associated with village police are driven by Nassau County’s “outrageous” rates.
“It makes our negotiations with this police force very difficult,” Keller said.
Even if the village were served by the Nassau County Police Department, it would not save much money, according to Keller.
“We would have to pay them a significant amount of money to provide the police service that we already have,” he said.
Brian Nevin, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano’s senior policy advisor, questioned Keller’s contention when asked for comment following the meeting.
According to Nevin, village residents might actually pay less by switching to county police services.
“We ran one village and the average household would save approximately $1000 per year,” said Nevin, in a statement to Blank Slate Media.
Board members and residents also focused on unfunded pension liabilities got a lot of discussion.
“If it keeps on going that way, the village tax will be more than the school tax,” said longtime Kensington resident Alan Schlesinger, concerned that the identity of the village is being “dismantled” with the rising security costs.
“I don’t know what we can do, but clearly carrying a gun in Kensington is not as dangerous as being someplace in Hempstaed,” he said. “It may get to the point down the road where we stop being a village.”
Some praised Kensington’s recent snow removal efforts while criticizing efforts in Great Neck Plaza.
“They certainly didn’t put too much effort into their snow,” said one unidentified resident at the meeting. “With all their money do you think that at night they couldn’t have gotten a plow to clear up the streets?”
Lopatkin said the resident could write a letter to Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender regarding plow efforts.
“All I can say was our snow was removed,” said Lopatkin.
Keller said Kensington’s streets are typically plowed better than those in Great Neck Plaza.
“Even 10 years ago you could drive anywhere in our village, then when you hit Great Neck Plaza and you couldn’t go anywhere,” he said.
Despite a string of unsolved break-ins that has apparently left some residents on edge in Kings Point and Great Neck Village, Kensington’s security initiatives are working, according to Lopatkin.
“I spoke to our police about what we should be doing here,” said the mayor. “The answer I got is we are known for having very frequent patrols on an irregular basis and that’s the hallmark of our ability to be protected.”
Officials from the villages of Great Neck Plaza, Great Neck Estates and Kings Point did not respond to a request for comment by Blank Slate Media.
Reach reporter Rich Jacques by e-mail at rjacques@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x203. Follow Rich Jacques on Twitter at twitter.com/richjacques.
