Orangetown Council Adjusts 2012 Budget Proposal

The Orangetown Town Board voted to approve a series of changes to the proposed 2012 town budget.

The board also discussed other potential changes that may be made before the public hearing on the budget Nov. 9.

"The net amount in terms of budget would be roughly $60,000 less than the Supervisor's budget," said Orangetown Director of Finance Charlie Richardson, referring to the proposed budget that has been submitted and is listed on the town's website. "In terms of tax rate, my calculation, which has not been checked yet by the assessor, I have the rate at two percent (increase). I will produce charts and graphs that are hopefully good enough to please some of my critics."

That increase, which is actually slightly above two percent, does not include the settlement with Pfizer.

"With Pfizer on top of that, we're looking at, if you include the other tax certs, another five percent (increase) basically," Richardson. "So the article that talked about a seven percent increase is accurate. The total increase right now is 7.5 percent. It will be slightly better for homestead, slightly worse for non-homestead."

The board voted Tuesday to set a public hearing for 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9 to address a local law overriding the New York State two percent tax cap. The public hearing regarding the budget in its entirety will follow that night. The board could approve the budget that night, though the deadline is Nov. 21.

One concern raised Tuesday night was that the proposed budget includes money from Rockland County that could be lost in budget cuts at the county level. County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef has proposed cutting $2.5 million in spending by eliminating reimbursements for towns and villages that supply police officers for the Rockland County Drug Task Force and Rockland County Intelligence Center. The money pays back the town for the officers it assigns to each to the drug task force and the intelligence center. 

The proposed cut would include approximately $300,000 to the Town of Orangetown for 2012.

Orangetown Councilman Tom Diviny said that the proposed budget should reflect the loss of those funds.

"They should say this is what we're going to do and do it, but we as a town have to have people come out for a public hearing on this budget and we should have it reflect what the chief executive officer of this county is proposing," Diviny said.

Councilman Denis Troy was still hopeful that at least some of the reimbursements would remain. District Attorney Thomas Zugibe and law enforcement officials throughout the county, including Orangetown Police Chief Kevin Nulty, have argued for the importance of the drug task force and intelligence center. The concern is those units would fall apart without county funding.

"I still think it is very important to have our officers there," Troy said. "I think the narcotics task force and intelligence task force will start disintegrating without the reimbursements. We have to have a better idea where our legislators are going with this. I think the legislators will support the reimbursement, though maybe not the full reimbursement."

Among the budget changes approved Tuesday were:

• $115,000 increase in spending related to the sewer project
• $45,000 reduction in spending for salt by the Orangetown Highway Department
• $15,000 reduction in spending for crossing guards due to the recent decrease in the hourly rate from $20 to $18
• $91,000 reduction in risk insurance, where the town had been running a surplus.
• $10,602 increase due to permanent staff corrections
• $18,778 increase due to part-time staff corrections, which comes from the filling of a fire prevention position.