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TARRYTOWN, N.Y. Tarrytown trustees voted to override the tax cap on Wednesday night while adopting a $14 million budget that stays within the tax cap limit.
The adopted 2012-13 budget would increase the tax rate by 4.74 percent.
The language is authorizing a property tax levy in excess of what's established in general municipal law section 3-C, however the budget that we will be considering does not exceed the 2 percent property tax cap, Mayor Drew Fixell said during Wednesday's meeting, adding that the board was voting to override the cap just in case there was an error or a change in interpretation that lead to the budget being over the cap.
The tax cap limits the taxes a municipality can levy on residents to approximately 2 percent. A 60 percent majority vote of the board of trustees is needed to override the cap for one year.
Trustee Thomas Butler voted against the tax cap override and the adopted budget.
I'm not comfortable with the percentage that was presented tonight, Butler said during the meeting.
The adopted budget includes the layoff of a police dispatcher and a part-time recreation staff member, Village Administrator Michael Blau said. Another recreation staff position has been reduced to part-time, Blau said.
Residents and labor officials had protested the layoffs during an earlier budget hearing.
CSEA is very concerned by the proposal to eliminate the police dispatcher position and reduce the senior recreation position to part-time, Pat Russell, CSEA labor relations specialist said. We urge you to restore these positions to your budget.
Trustees also added additional hours to the village court clerk's schedule, which had been reduced by 12 and a half hours. Deputy Mayor Thomas Basher said that village Justice Kyle McGovern had asked for three and a half hours back so that the court could work on a backlog of parking tickets.
The adopted budget will be available on the village website next week.
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