Now that the election is over, the Village of Mineola Board of Trustees has to sit down to work on a budget for the 2007-2008 fiscal year, which begins June 1, 2007 and ends May 31, 2008.

On April 16 at 7 p.m., the village's annual reorganization night will take place. Mayor Jack M. Martins and Trustees Larry Werther and John DaVanzo will be sworn in. Also, the village board will hold a work session during which department heads will be re-appointed or appointed and the board will present the 2007-2008 tentative budget.

Mayor Martins has scheduled budget meetings for April 18, 19, 25 and 26. At those meetings, the board will discuss the upcoming budget. The public is invited to attend. The hearing on the budget on April 18 is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. since there is a hearing scheduled at 7 p.m. on the length of service program for members of the Mineola Volunteer Ambulance Corps. The meetings on the other nights are scheduled for 7 p.m.

Mayor Martins presented a tentative budget to the trustees on March 28 and invited their input regarding any modifications. The tentative budget for 2007-2008 calls for $17,481,871 in expenditures. Of that amount, $11,803,583 is the amount to be raised by taxes or the tax levy, which is $108,241 greater that 2006-2007 or a 1 percent increase.

One budget pressure that comes with the 2007-2008 budget is the loss of the village's assessed valuation, which went from $52,891,868 in the 2006-2007 budget to $51,961,618. As a result, there is a financial impact of $210,876 on the 2007-2008 budget.

The tax rate for the tentative 2007-2008 budget (the tax levy of $11,803,583 divided by assessed valuation of $51,961,618) is $22.72 per $100 of assessed valuation. The tax rate for the 2006-2007 budget was $22.11. As it stands, if the tentative budget was to be the one adopted by the board, taxpayers would see an increase of $0.61 per $100 of assessed valuation.

— Joe Rizza