Now that the village election is over, it's time to get down to business and the Mineola Village Board of Trustees has a lot of work ahead of it. The village is in the process of putting together its 2005-2006 fiscal year budget. Mayor Jack M. Martins has scheduled budget meetings for Tuesday, April 5 at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 6 at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, April 7 at 6:30 p.m. and Friday, April 8 at 6:30 p.m. if needed at Mineola Village Hall. The board will be discussing the village budget in public.

The budget figures to be a frustrating one because of pressures that come with it that are out of the village's control. For one, tax certiorari payments are expected to be $1.3 million in 2005-2006. In the village budget for 2004-2005, the line was fully funded for $700,000. The loss of assessed valuation will account for a 4.9 percent increase in the budget. The loss of assessed valuation, which includes the KeySpan Building coming off the tax roles due to the Intermodal Center project, combined with the increase in expected tax certiorari payments already has the budget at a 10.9 percent increase over 2004-2005.

Then, salary raises in accordance with employee contracts will raise the budget $170,000. The rise in health insurance costs is expected to raise the budget another $220,000 and other benefits are expected to go up another $100,000.

With just those pressures, the village is looking at a 15.6 percent increase. The mayor is also concerned about making the water fund solvent.

The budget pressures are enough to frustrate the recent re-elected mayor since the village has made sound fiscal decisions in recent years only to have to deal with having to trim its budget again. "You deal with it. We haven't spent any more. We haven't bought anything. We haven't borrowed. We haven't increased our expenses. We haven't done anything to justify the tax increase. We can't even show anything for it. That's the frustrating part," Mayor Martins said.

The mayor said he will look for suggestions from the board on how to further cut expenses and boost revenues so as not to overburden taxpayers. "The budget needs to be perceived as more of a collaborative effort," he said.