The Village of Mineola Board of Trustees began its budget discussions last Wednesday. As Mayor Jack M. Martins promised, the tentative budget for the 2006-2007 fiscal year reflected no tax increase over the 2005-2006 budget. However, residents may ultimately see a modest increase as there are some items in the budget that may need to be increased such as the contingency line. However, the mayor and the village board seem to be mindful of any tax impact to residents and business owners.

No motions were passed to increase the budget as discussions are still taking place and department heads are still making their presentations to the board. There didn't appear to be any controversy in the talks until Trustee Linda Fairgrieve brought up the independent consultant she proposed hiring to study the issue of whether Mineola should have its own police force.

Fairgrieve made a motion to increase the budget by $100,000 in order to have money in the budget to pay for the independent consultant if the village board should hire one. The Request for Proposal (RFP) to solicit bids from consultants is in the process of being formulated for publication. Firms would then submit bids to conduct the study. It is unknown whether the village would receive any bids or what the costs would be.

Thus far, the RFP has been published in the Mineola American and the Sunday edition of Newsday.

Fairgrieve said she made the motion because she doesn't want to go through the RFP process only to find out there's no money in the budget to hire the consultant. "If there's no money in there, why bother with the process?" she asked.

The motion was seconded by Trustee Paul Cusato but failed as Mayor Martins, Deputy Mayor Larry Werther and Trustee John DaVanzo voted against the motion.

Mayor Martins said the goal has been to keep taxes as low as possible for taxpayers. "They deserve a break," he said. Since every $100,000 increase in expenses in the budget equates a 1 percent tax increase, Mayor Martins and Trustees Werther and DaVanzo didn't want to pass a 1 percent tax increase to the taxpayers for an unknown cost. They believe the cost to hire an independent consultant to study the police force is unknown at this time.

"I want to know what the people think about increasing taxes 1 percent for an unknown expense," Mayor Martins, alluding to the public hearing on the budget on April 11 at 7 p.m. in Village Hall.

Mayor Martins also said that by putting $100,000 in the budget for an independent consultant, then the village board is, in essence, saying that it is willing to pay that much money for the consultant and he said he never agreed to that.

An area of the budget that has been a cause for concern are tax certiorari payments or rebates to taxpayers who successfully challenge their property assessment. It was estimated at one point that the village was going to have to pay out for $2 million in rebates. However, some recipients have apparently agreed to take the payments in installments. The village, therefore, will pay out $1,170,596 during the 2006-2007 fiscal year. Of that money, $1 million had been budgeted for and $170,596 will come from the village's unreserved fund balance. Acting village treasurer Giacomo Ciccone reported that the village closed the 2004-2005 fiscal year with a $444,000 fund balance.

Although the budget started with a 0 percent tax increase, it's unlikely to stay there since there are items in the budget the department heads are recommending increasing. The mayor and the board will likely opt to increase the contingency line in the budget by $100,000 to $350,000.

Still, the village accounting department is anticipating larger revenues during this fiscal year that will likely keep any tax increase moderate. For example, the accounting department is estimating $170,000 in interest and earnings whereas the village received $79,250 in 2004-2005 and on-street parking revenues are projected to be up over $40,000 from what the village received in 2004-2005 . Also, estimated revenues for building permits is up over $50,000 from what the village received in 2004-2005.

The only other disagreement of the evening came on one of the mayor's appointments. Mayor Martins appointed village resident Carl Marchese at the village's deputy treasurer. The appointment passed by a 3-2 margin and Trustees Fairgrieve and Cusato voted against the appointment. Later, resident Walter Hobbs asked why the two trustees voted against the appointment. Mayor Martins answered that in all fairness to Trustees Fairgrieve and Cusato, the trustees just got the mayor's list of appointments that day. Trustees Fairgrieve and Cusato had questions on that appointment that they didn't have the opportunity to get answers to so they were certainly within their rights to vote against, or abstain from, the vote on the appointment. Mayor Martins feels Marchese is a qualified individual who will be an asset to the accounting department. Marchese is a certified public accountant (CPA).