By Maureen Rossi
Social Media was on fire, Tweets, Blogs and Facebooks posts echoed the exhausted and angry sentiment of most Americans on the morning of October first; in every corner of the nation people woke to the news that their federal government was closed for business. A different story was playing out in Smithtown, Supervisor Patrick Vecchio was in his office at Town Hall bright and early readying to meet with the local media to take questions about the proposed Tentative Budget for 2014. “I am pleased to submit the 2014 budget which reflects an overall decrease of $13.12 in town taxes on a house assessed at $5,500.00,” he commented. It is a laborious process, the preparation of the town budget is a year-long effort. “I meet with the Controller two to three times a week four to five weeks before the budget is presented but he makes recommendations all year long, it’s an ongoing process,” he added.
As the Chief Financial Trustee of the Town of Smithtown Vecchio takes the budget process very seriously and has had a great deal of experience in creating one. “I think this is a remarkable achievement to be able to provide a slight decrease for taxpayers,” said Vecchio.
Some critics have complained that the town’s reserves have dwindled too much in the last several years however Vecchio reminded every reporter at his Budget Presentation that we have gone through a historic recession. This year’s proposed Reserve Fund if passed by the Town Board will hold $9,841,763.00, that number is up from last’s years Reserve of $8,492,560.00 – it represents a 15.89% increase.
Is this an election year shell game, a slight of hand, a manipulation of fiduciary resources for political gain or is it quite simple good money management? The answer differs depending on you speak to. The Creighton Camp is worried that the Reserve fund is becoming too low. “Mr. Vecchio’s budget is in and once again he is giving the appearance of keeping our taxes down while he is taking from our surplus, it’s like taking from your retirement fund week after week to pay your bills, in fact it’s terrible money management, said Creighton.
Smithtown Democratic candidate for Supervisor, Steve Snair is equally critical of the proposed 2014 budget. “This budget is an election year stunt by Supervisor Vecchio. He can’t hide behind the fact that he has repeatedly voted to raise property taxes on Smithtown residents,” he said. He also added that there is no pay cut for the supervisor’s office for the 2014 budget. Snair has recently announced his intention to slash the supervisor’s salary by 10% when he is elected. “Dipping into the surplus and failing to hire to fill vacancies is not a plan for success. Supervisor Vecchio’s budget does less with more; you can expect my administration to do more with less,” explained Snair.
Some might agree that a machinery increase for the highway department of $12.94 is impressive or that a $5.59 increase for a road fund in which the town will repave 22 – 24 miles is a bargain. Ironically, a year after one of the Island’s largest snow falls (February’s 30” monster) – the snow removal cost is going down by $21.44.
This year’s proposed Smithtown Budget falls under the 2% Tax Cap mandated by New York State law for municipalities, most school districts, and many library, fire and water districts. Adopted in 2011, the growth in property tax levy is capped at 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less (with some exceptions). In 2013, out of the 930 towns in the state, 251 wrote budgets overriding the tax cap. Smithtown was not one of them and has been under the 2% rate since the law went into effect.
When asked about the decreases throughout the budget, Supervisor Vecchio said much of the excess money came from attrition – people with higher-paying jobs retired and the town was able to replace that personnel with new employees on a much lower pay scale. “There were no merit raises for employees in this budget, only contractual ones,” he explained.
A million dollars was saved in the area of waste, the annual fee for taxpayers remains $305 per household for disposal from a single residence. A half million was saved by negotiating with a new carter for collection and a half million was saved for use of the Covanta incinerator. “I have allocated those savings for the Montclair Avenue Yard,” he explained. Instead of Smithtown residents on the east end of town schlepping to Kings Park, they will have their own facility to rid of debris. The town will comply with Department of Environment Conservation standards and renovate the yard to include weight scales for accurate account of vegetative debris and other waste that cannot be incinerated. In addition a trailer will be put on site to house the new scale and operators.
There is no good news about the federal shut-down, hopefully, by the time this article is published, the government will have resumed business. The longest shutdown in the history of our country was 21 days, most have lasted two or three days. Until then, the mail will be delivered, you won’t be able to get a permit for a gun license and national parks are closed. Feel free to visit any of the beautiful parks in Smithtown because they are open. Feel free to go to the Paul J. Fitzpatrick Country club on Landing Avenue and play some golf, but it’s not free, last year taxpayers funded the bucolic municipal facility with $599,949.00, but the tentative 2014 budget includes a decrease of 9% for running the operation.