Finishing up our review of local budgets, the Village of East Hills recently passed their 2002-2003 budget, one that calls for expenditures of $7,687,432.

Mayor Michael R. Koblenz said that the moderate spending increase was necessary to "fund the creation and operation of a new village operated security force," plus pay for electricity, maintenance and the heat for a new Nassau County police and emergency medical technician sub-station that is now located on village hall property.

According to the mayor, other important items from the budget concern the costs of fire protection and fire retirement benefits; "appropriate salary increases for employees;" and shouldering higher costs for refuse removal and dumping fees, insurance, road repairs, maintenance, and the upkeep of the 50-acre village hall property.

"The village continues to adjust assessments as required by the courts through commercial and residential tax certiorari proceedings," Mayor Koblenz continued. "Even with these financial constraints, the tax rate rose only $10.5238 per $100 of assessed value."

The mayor added that the new tax rate would result in an increase of a range of between $48.29 to $135.20 for homeowners. "It is important to note that overall, East Hills village taxes account for only about 11 percent of a taxpayer's taxes," Mayor Koblenz said. "The other 89 percent are assessed by Nassau County, the Town of North Hempstead, and the Roslyn School District."

Breaking down budget spending, 17 percent of the budget ($816,000) goes for the Fire Department segment. Sixteen percent ($750,845) is spent on Benefits, which themselves include comprehensive employee benefits and financing. The Streets and Finance budgets both account for 14 percent of the entire budget. In addition, both Sanitation and Administration account for 11 percent each of spending for the 2002-2003 fiscal year.

Real property taxes make up $3,532,894 of the revenues needed to be raised by the village. Other revenue will be generated by Departmental Income ($302,550), State Aid ($207,757), and Gross Utilities Tax ($140,000).

Mayor Koblenz addressed certain specifics in the budget, including security. In recent months, village residents have expressed concern over a rise of burglaries taking place in the Roslyn area. East Hills even hosted a large public meeting on the subject, one attended by officials with the Nassau County police. The mayor noted that the village has now established its own security force in order to "contain and curtail crime."

Rather than hiring outside contractors to do the job, East Hills patrols are now monitoring local village neighborhoods. "Each of our vehicles is equipped with a computerized device providing the village information on where each car is and the performance of the security aide," the mayor said.

The new security force, he added, is better trained, more devoted, and more cost effective than outside vendors. The security force will be working with the Nassau County police to "detect and deter crime." In addition, it will have a new security director who will oversee a staff of close to 20 full time employees who themselves monitor East Hills as security aides and who report all suspicious activity directly and immediately to the 6th Precinct.