Sticking to the conservative spending habits they have promised the voters in recent elections, the Village of Roslyn board of trustees unveiled their proposed 2002-2003 budget, one that calls for a slight decrease in overall spending for the new fiscal year, which will begin in June. After a public hearing on the budget, the document was adopted by the BOT at their April 9 meeting.

The approved budget calls for total expenditures of $3,481,521 million for the fiscal year 2002-2003. If enacted, this represents a slight increase from the 2001-2002 budget, which allotted for $3,596,483 in total spending.

On the revenue side, projected revenue other than real property taxes is proposed to reach $890,385. Revenues from tax certiorari are set at $153,000, while the appropriated fund balance is expected to reach $110,000.

As always, the balance of the revenues will be raised by real property taxes. For the 2002-2003 budget, the village hopes to raise $2,328,136 in such taxes. The assessed valuation on homes in the village is now $12,021,652, a slight 1 percent increase over the numbers for last year's budget. The tax rate for this year's budget is set at $19.3, a 4.5 percent increase over the tax rate for the 2001-2002 budget.

Looking at more specific items in the budget, the village hopes to raise decent amounts of revenue from, among other sources, parking lot permits ($50,000), sewer rental ($220,000), building permits ($90,000), justice court fines ($135,000), mortgage taxes ($60,000), and utilities gross receipts ($60,000). During the course of a fiscal year, the actual revenue totals may be different from what the approved budget has projected, but estimates are based on previous year's revenues, so they are never very far off.

On the spending side, the General Government Support budget represents the largest slice of the budget. It includes the yearly budgets for the board of trustees, the village justice, the mayor's office, the auditor, the clerk treasurer, the village hall, the village attorney, the village engineer, plus a "special items" budget.

Spending for this year's Government budget is set at $894,192, over $100,000 less than last year's approved budget. Savings are projected to come from the engineer's budget, plus those for downtown revitalization, the Ellen E. Ward Clock Tower, and the Environmental Project Grant budget. In fact, the BOT projects no spending in 2002-2003 for the latter two items.

Due to contractual expenses in the fire department budget, the overall Public Safety budget is scheduled for a slight increase in spending. However, BOT members found savings in both the Transportation budget and the much-smaller Culture & Recreation budget. Reductions in the Transportation budget came mostly from street lighting and streets and sidewalks segments, namely in the form of maintenance spending and labor costs. In addition, the decrease in the Home & Community budget comes almost entirely by savings in the sewer system budget, especially in the operation and maintenance of the village's sewer system.

In previous years, the mayor's salary was a bone of contention when drafting and approving a final budget. For this year's approved budget, the mayor's office is set at $5,400, while the entire board of trustees budget amounts to $2,400. There are about 14 village salaries, including those in the village justice, clerk treasurer, safety inspection, and mostly in the streets and sidewalks budget that signify full time work. The budget also allots for some part time and overtime pay.