"New" Board Faces Difficult Budget
by Judy Silberstein
(April 15, 2004) Following an uncontested election
that returned three incumbents to office, the Village of Larchmont’s
Board of Trustees met to install its “new” members,
set a path for the upcoming year, and hold its first public
hearing on its budget. With no turnover, and no distractions
from a partisan contest, the board will move ahead on the
same set of projects they have been working on for the past
two years. They have a full plate of issues on zoning, environment,
land use, parks, and streetscapes. This year, they also face
a difficult budget featuring whopping pension and insurance
costs.
Village Justice Thea Beaver swears
in Mayor Ken Bialo (at left) and Trustee Liz Feld (at right).
Justice Jerry Bernstein administers the oath to Trustee Marlene
Kolbert (center). Below, Mayor Ken Bialo swears in Fire Chief Chris Macdonald, First Deputy Chief Tom Broderick and Second Deputy Chief PJ Abrahamson.
Mayor Ken Bialo provided both a review and a preview for
the Village. Among the major projects were:
Updating the Village Zoning Code: In 2003, the board adopted
new rules to rein in “bulky houses” and they
will now turn to updating the “easy” issues in
a code that has not been thoroughly revised in many decades.
Later in the year, or in 2005, they will turn to the more
difficult zoning questions.
Taming the Dry Weather Flow: This winter, water flowing
onto village streets from residential sump pumps once again
created an “ice patch” problem that had to be
tamed with expensive and environmentally insensitive salt
dams. A potentially “pain free” approach developed
with the help of Village Engineer Mike Lepre, consulting
engineer Dolph Rotfeld and the Village Environmental Committee,
has hit a legal snag. (see: Next
Steps to Attacking "Dry Weather Flows")
The Village will be attempting to find alternatives.
Land Use: The absence of a building
inspector has been holding up progress in Larchmont’s
efforts to streamline its land use processes, such as applying
for
building permits
or zoning variances. Larchmont has been short-handed since
Richard Carroll moved over to the Village of Mamaroneck in
November leaving Mike Lepre to serve as both inspector and
engineer.
Once the new inspector is found – and cleared with
the Civil Service Commission - the Village hopes to return
to a more energetic level of code enforcement.
Flint Park Improvements: Mayor Bialo reported that he is
looking forward to Westchester County “finishing up
and going away,” probably by August, as they complete
their construction at the back of the park and clean up after
themselves. That will allow for expansion of the playing
fields and the environmental area at the back of the park,
though plans are not yet finalized. The next step is to continue
to tackle the issue of how to fund the project that is likely
to cost close to $1 million.
Renovations of the playgrounds may be closer to implementation.
If fundraising is in place, a community build may be possible
in the fall; if not, it may be moved off until next spring.
Mayor Bialo paused a moment to note the passing of Monroe
Eberlin, who has served as Larchmont’s park consultant
through a multi-year planning process and who died on April
10. The mayor noted that Mr. Eberlin’s contribution
was key to many aspects of the Flint Park project, and “he
will be missed.”
Village Engineer Mike Lepre hefts
a roll of drawings and a stack of bid documents
for the streetscape project. |
Streetscape Renewal: Another
project long in the works, renovating a section of the Post
Road business district,
is expected to start as early as this summer. “Tonight
we have the finished plans and the specifications and we
are prepared to go out to bid,” said Mayor Bialo. If
the bids are acceptable, the board expects work to be started
this summer and finished by Thanksgiving. First Public Hearing on the Budget
No one on the board looked happy with the preliminary
budget that, at this stage, calls for an 8.5% increase
in property tax, which is even higher than last year’s
6.5% increase, and much higher than the 1.9% increase from
the year before. In fact it’s one of the highest
tax increases since 1969, when the current Treasurer Carmine
De Luca began working for Larchmont. Furthermore, the rate
would be even higher – perhaps as high as 11% - if
the budget did not factor in the option of issuing bonds
to pay off a portion of this year’s pension costs
over the next five years. This is a newly allowed option
being considered by municipalities across the state to
cope with the crushing burden of ballooning contributions
to the state pension fund.
Village Treasurer Carmine De
Luca turns in his 35th and last budget before retirement. |
“This year’s 8.5% [increase], as it now stands,
is a huge burden on our residents and taxpayers and I personally
am very unhappy about it,” declared Mayor Bialo.
He challenged everyone to grab a pencil and follow along
with his explanation for the increase.
Expenses for the general fund are up around $750K, he
explained, rising from $11,243,000 to around $12,000,000.
Most of the increases come from just two expense items:
NY State pensions and NY State insurance. Pension costs
are almost doubling, going from $278K to $519K; workers'
compensation insurance is going from $170K to $245K, and
health insurance
is up from $825K to $925K. Altogether, these items account
for $416K out of the total increase of $750K.
There is some new revenue offsetting the new costs. Westchester
County will be sharing with the villages 20% of what
is raised through a new half-penny hike in the sales
tax. Larchmont expects to see about $140K through that
channel.
The document circulated Monday night is only preliminary,
and Mayor Bialo listed a number of questions the board
will be continuing to consider as it decides on its final
budget, due April 30:
- Salary level for managers
- Costs for liability insurance
- Possible savings in cell phone contracts
- The correct amount to budget for tax certioris
- The possibility of reductions in the Library budget,
which is now showing an 11% increase
- Whether or not to spread the costs of this year’s
hike in pension costs by borrowing funds and paying them
back over a 5 year period.
This will be the last budget for Village Treasurer Carmine
De Luca, who is retiring after 35 years at Village Hall.
Mr. De Luca splits his time between Larchmont and the Town
of Mamaroneck, so both governments will be searching to
replace someone considered irreplaceable by many of the
board members, mayors, and supervisors who served during
his tenure. “His shoes will be extraordinarily hard
to fill,” observed the mayor.
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