Rye Brook's Proposed Budget Attempts to "Do More with Less"

After months of work, the Rye Brook Village Board met Tuesday night to discuss its proposed 2010-11 budget during a public hearing before it voting on the measure at the end of April.

The village's proposed $17 million 2010-11 budget requires a 2.2 percent tax levy increase, adjusted to 1.8 percent once the Homestead Tax Option is enacted.

"This means the average homeowner in Rye Brook, with a home estimated to be worth $814,000 would pay an annual village tax of $3,411. That's up $67 from last year," Village Administrator Christopher Bradbury said.

Passed in 1981, New York State's Homestead Tax Option allows towns and villages that have undergone a property revaluation to readjust the balance in favor of the homeowners, if the results of the revaluation yield a marked shift in tax burden from commercial property-owners to residents. 

The proposed 2010-11 homestead, or residential, tax rate would be $4.19 per thousand of assessed value, while the non-homestead, or commercial, tax rate would be $6.58 per thousand of assessed value, according to the budget.

"The village board voted to enact Homestead a number of years ago to save homeowners an undue tax burden," Bradbury said.

The village's proposed budget also includes a slightly less than one percent increase in expenditures, mostly due to increased retirement benefits that are mandated by the state, Bradbury said.

"This was the most difficult budget to prepare in the 10 years I've worked for Rye Brook," Bradbury said. "Some services and personnel had to be impacted, but we believe we have created a solid plan given the circumstances."

In order to keep the tax rate increases under control, the village departments were asked to reduce budgets by 5 percent, with village staffing facing the most apparent cuts.

"We did not fill two full-time positions when they became vacant—one was an engineer and the other a police officer. We also had to cut hours for part-time employees."

Mayor Joan Feinstein also expressed concern over rising costs of employee benefits, saying, "I'm very stressed and frightened by these numbers. If the numbers continue to rise in the coming years, we'll either need to raise taxes or cut employees."

Although both Feinstein and board members were loath to add any additional expenditures after Bradbury's presentation, Feinstein conceded that certain programs are too important to the community to lose.

"I'm in favor of additional funding to the library to continue its successful summer reading program," Trustee Paul Rosenberg said. "But I think we need to draw the line at their request for additional summer hours."

The other additions recommended by the mayor and board during previous work sessions and last night's hearing include increasing funds for a senior nutrition program ($3,500) and reinstating the annual Rye Brook birthday celebration (net impact is $5,000 increase).

Despite these added costs, Bradbury still expects Rye Brook's tax rate to stay among the most reasonable in the county.

"Our motto has become, 'do more with less,'" he said. "This year we've opted to discontinue using a cleaning service for Village Hall. This may mean a change in the way the building looks at certain times, but all costs had to be considered in planning the budget."

Rye Brook will adopt its budget on April 27, which will include all changes considered in work sessions and the public hearing. The final budget must be passed by May 1.