P’ville Village Board Adopts $19.7M Budget That Exceeds Tax Cap

The Pleasantville Village board approved a $19.7 million budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year last week that added about $200,000 in spending and exceeds the tax cap.

“We have made a couple of modifications to the budget since it was first proposed back in March,” Mayor Peter Scherer said at last Monday’s Village Board meeting. “We increased the tax rate a bit to generate some money towards the Clark Street drainage project.”

The board’s approval followed the public hearing on the updated budget.

The tentative budget was tax cap-compliant and proposed a 2.8 percent tax rate increase. The approved budget hiked that rate to 4.3 percent, which is over $132,670 over the limit.

Village Administrator Eric Morrissey explained that the additional $200,000 for the Clark Street budget puts the budget over the cap.

“That brings the total tax levy revenue to $13.5 million which generates a tax rate increase of 4.3 percent,” Morrissey said.

The average residential property owner can expect to see his taxes rise about $220 for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins June 1.

Morrissey said the estimated cost for the Clark Street drainage project was about $600,000. As one of the larger capital projects under consideration, the work will improve drainage for the storm sewer running from Soldiers and Sailors Park that connects to Bedford Road. Bids are due in August, and work is expected to start by late summer or early fall.

Other large capital projects include the new pool reconstruction and flood mitigation, the Nannahagan Brook wall reconstruction, water tank replacements and the Memorial Plaza improvement project. Pool bids, which are expected next month, may determine if construction will start in the fall as planned or be delayed another year.

“This year there has been a significant growth in the tax base,” Morrissey said. “The type of project the village takes on next year depends on the growth of the tax base. There are a variety of factors to be considered.”

When presenting the tentative budget in March, Morrissey offered three different scenarios to cover the debt service incurred by borrowed funds for the village’s big-ticket capital projects. The debt service is expected to come due at the end of fiscal year 2026.

The board chose the least of those scenarios where the tax increase for village property owners would be 4.3 percent.

There were no comments from the public during the hearing. The board unanimously approved the resolution to accept the revised budget.

“Because we’ve had some significant increases to the tax base that is new assessed properties, there are more players paying into the system that has mitigated the increase, which would otherwise be substantially higher,” Scherer explained. “To keep the trains running is an expensive process.”

For more information on the budget: https://www.pleasantville-ny.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1076/f/uploads/budget_package_for_website_0.pdf.

Mt. Kisco Approves $26.5M Budget

A late net spending reduction of nearly $60,000 has trimmed Mount Kisco’s 2024-25 tax increase as the Village Board approved the municipality’s budget last week for the next fiscal year.

The tax rate increase fell from 2.45 to 2.07 percent as a result of the changes while the tax levy increase edged downward from 1.29 to 0.92 percent. The average homeowner will have a village tax bill of $4,028.94, an increase of $81.85 over the current year.

Village Manager Ed Brancati said the board increased capital spending for each of the four fire department companies by $15,000, which was partially offset by the $27,000 increase in revenue from the outside districts as their part of the apportionment of the expense.

The board also reduced the transfer to capital by nearly $75,0000, made a $2,5000 reduction to the village’s Economic Development Council and reduced expenses in the police budget by about $15,000. The board decided not to fund a community service officer but included money for a part-time park ranger.

Mayor Michael Cindrich said the village spent millions of dollars improving the business district and he hopes it can focus on quality-of-life issues in the upcoming year. However, there are pressures.

“This board has much work to do,” Cindrich said. “We have to work with the four fire companies over the next few months to meet their future needs. The plan to have responsible development to (offset) the $5 million lost in taxable property over the past five years is something that we’re going to have to address. We can’t stay stagnant.”

Martin Wilbur contributed to this article.