Budget approved; trustees sworn in
Former Garden City Mayor John Watras passed down the gavel to newly-elected Mayor Nicholas P. Episcopia at the village’s organizational meeting on Monday, April 6.
Along with Episcopia, four trustees were also sworn in. John A. DeMaro and Richard V. Silver were elected to additional terms. Stephen S. Makrinos was elected as a new trustee and John M. Delany was newly appointed as well.
One of the first items on the agenda was the approval of the proposed budget for 2015-16.
“To all the people who worked on putting our budget together, it was very difficult. We were underneath a 1.65 [percent] budget cap, which we had to keep to. If we did not, people would not get their refunds. We made every effort to do that, and we believe we succeeded,” remarked Episcopia as he introduced the budget.
Trustee and Deputy Mayor Brian C. Daughney agreed to the new budget, but he expressed concern that the village focused too much on building reserves.
“Overall, I have a few problems with this budget, but I’m [still] for it,” he said. “I’m concerned that we have put an overemphasis on reserves when we should be using some of the funds we have available to do some things that need to get done.”
“The budget is a lot of give and take,” Trustee DeMaro chimed in. “Of course, we want to analyze what’s best for the village, what projects are appropriate… we do have a lot of cash on hand to do projects that will directly benefit the residents of Garden City. So, I am also in favor of the budget.”
Overall appropriations for the budget add up to $58,779,000. The increase in the tax levy for Garden City taxpayers amounted to 1.65 percent, which would bring in $48,942,000 to support the budget. For 2014-15, the levy went up by 3.43 percent. For the 2013-14 budget, the tax levy rose by 3.36 percent. The rest of the funds for the budget will be generated from estimated revenues and appropriations from the surplus.
With no comments from the public and approval from the trustees, the budget was passed.
The board also voted on the appropriation of funds for various items, which included the feasibility study for the Community Park conversion to synthetic turf fields, which would be conducted by Abel Bainnson Butz, LLP.
“There isn’t anyone here who is satisfied with the condition of the fields at Community Park. It is very bad,” said Episcopia. “There is no one here that doesn’t understand that in order to cure that, it is going to require a substantial amount of money.”
The appropriation will pay the firm for $38,250 to retain them for the site design concept and for the feasibility study for the conversion to artificial turf.
Silver, trustee and second deputy mayor, explained that he believes the first step is a geoengineering analysis of the ground underneath the park.
“There is a problem with the fields; they’re built on a landfill. They’re sinking in an irregular fashion,” he said. “It’s not a problem that is going to be remedied by changing the playing structures from natural to artificial turf. And, that’s what this proposal purports to do.”
Other trustees expressed a similar sentiment, and the board voted to table the issue and have an engineering consultant appear at the next meeting to discuss their capabilities and possible solutions.
Toward the end of the meeting, the board listened to comments from the public. Among them, Tom Lamberti, a former board trustee, raised his concern about the ongoing issue over the now-private green space at the Franklin Court Mews, LLC.
On this issue, Episcopia said earlier in the meeting that the board is in talks with the LLC to come to an agreement to keep this land open to the public.
“Negotiations are going forward,” he said. “It’s a delicate thing… but be assured, we are trying very hard.”
