The Village of Mineola Board of Trustees has yet to pass a budget, and the mayor and board will be discussing ways to lessen the impact to the taxpayers. Since there are pressures on the budget that have caused the proposed budget to balloon to a 17 percent tax increase, ways to either boost revenues or cut expenses could still be considered. Deputy Mayor Larry Werther said he hopes to see the increase down to the single digits.

The proposed budget for fiscal year 2005-2006, which begins June 1, 2005 and ends May 31, 2006, calls for a tax rate of $22.96 per $100 of assessed valuation. The proposed tax rate is approximately 17.4 percent more than the tax rate of $19.55 per $100 of assessed valuation for the 2004-2005 fiscal year budget.

The proposed 2005-2006 budget calls for $17,742,089 in expenses for the General Fund of which $12,994,087 would have to be raised by taxes. To get the tax rate, divide the amount to be raised by taxes ($12,994,087) by the village's assessed valuation of $56,583,212 to arrive at $22.96 per $100 of assessed valuation.

One of the things that hurt the village is its assessed valuation declining due to such things as the KeySpan building coming off the tax roll because of the Intermodal parking garage project. The assessed valuation in the 2004-2005 budget was $56,728,212, whereas in the 2005-2006 budget it is $145,000 less.

Another big hit in the budget is for refund of taxes. In the 2004-2005 budget, the village budgeted for $700,000 for tax certiorari payments. In the 2005-2006 budget, $1,304,033 is budgeted for.

In addition, the village must also budget for an increase in employee benefits from $2,500,600 that was budgeted in 2004-2005 to $2,832,000.

Another area that continues to hurt the village is debt service. The village has budgeted $2,158,447 to pay off debt, which is approximately 12 percent of its total budget.

The board of trustees and the mayor are also expected to discuss ways to lessen the tax increase before passing the 2005-2006 budget.

The next meeting of the village board is Wednesday, April 20 at village hall with a work session beginning at 6:30 p.m. and the public meeting beginning at 7:30 p.m.