Town of Mamaroneck 2004 Budget to Increase by Over A Million
Dollars
by Harriet Kline
(December 4, 2003) At a public hearing last night, Town
Administrator Stephen
Altieri formally presented the preliminary Town budget for
2004. Another public hearing on the budget will be held on
Wednesday December 17, but barring any unforeseen circumstances,
the budget will increase by $1.5 million over the 2003 fiscal
year. This will result in a total budget of over $24 million
and an increase in property taxes of 8.5%. In his presentation, Altieri illustrated where the money
will be coming from. As in previous years, most of the budget
comes from property taxes which will rise 8.5% to produce
an extra $1.2 million over last year. The Town will also
be using $1.87 million in funds from its various surplus
accounts, which is up slightly from the $1.83 million in
surplus used last year. That leaves the Town with an estimated
surplus of over $3 million.
Well over 50% of the proposed cost increase is attributable
to mandated Town contributions to:
· the NY State Retirement System
· Medical insurance
· Liability insurance
·
Worker’s Compensation Insurance.
 Altieri’s graphical presentation made clear the realities
of the budget dilemma facing Mamaroneck (and other municipalities
all over the nation) – external factors outside of
Town control impact the budget.
A resident's overall property tax bill funds much more
than the Town budget.
According to Altieri, 54% of taxes collected by the Town
go to the
Mamaroneck schools, 23% to Westchester County,
and only 23% to
the Town. This 23% must pay for services such as public safety,
public
works, culture and recreation, community services, government
support
(administrative costs), and unallocated debt. For residents
of the Villages
of Larchmont and Mamaroneck, the "Town tax" amounts
to about 2% of the
total bill, but they have to pay a separate Village
tax. (For a more precise breakdown, see the
Gazette's
Property Tax Calculator.)
“It was a very difficult budget,” said Altieri. “Those
things that were driving the increase were all out of the
Board’s control." The budget as presented was somewhat
smaller than the tentative
budget that was first
unveiled
in October and would have led to an even higher tax increase
of 9.3 %.
"We made some line item cuts for equipment," said Altieri,
"and we were able to make some reductions for liability insurance.
We had anticipated a 40% increase and the actual increase
was only 22%." At Wednesday’s meeting, there were no residents in
the audience to address the Board regarding the budget.
At the December 17 Town Board meeting, residents will be
given
another opportunity for input.
Forest City Daly DEIS
The Town Board scheduled two concurrent public hearings
for Tuesday, January 20 at 7 pm for public
discussion of the second Draft of the Environmental Impact
Statement and Zoning
Petition submitted by the developer Forest City Daly. Forest
City Daly has proposed building a mulit-story apartment
structure on Madison
Street
in the Town. Copies of the DEIS are available in the Larchmont
and Mamaroneck libraries, the Town Clerk’s office and
the Town Administrator’s office.
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