Mt. Pleasant Adopts 2025 Budget Within Cap; Removes Additional Cop
News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
The Mount Pleasant Town Board adopted its 2025 budget of more than $64 million last week with a 1.54 percent tax levy increase after originally fearing that the tax cap would be exceeded.
At its meeting last Tuesday evening, which also featured the second and final budget hearing, officials also decided against adding another police officer for next year, the only proposed new full-time position that would have been in the spending plan.
Given the comments from residents at the Nov. 26 hearing, many criticizing the board for willing to go over the cap, board members signaled at their Dec. 3 work session that they might hold off on the additional officer.
At the work session, the board and town Comptroller Noreen McGinty disclosed a reduction of nearly $300,000 in spending because of a lower-than-expected hike in health insurance costs enabled the town to stay within the cap. The town had planned for a 12 percent increase in health premiums, but just before Thanksgiving, the state informed them that the final increase would be about 5 percent.
A series of small adjustments also helped to trim the increase.
Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi called the unanimously approved budget “a very health budget maintaining a strong fund balance.”
At last week’s hearing, residents’ mood was more upbeat and far less adversarial than the first session, although some speakers continued to challenge the board.
A few questioned why it was necessary for the board to vote itself a raise in a challenging economic environment. Each member will receive a 3 percent increase, the same as department heads.
Hawthorne resident Domenick Vita said communication between the board and the public could have been better during this year’s budget process, particularly important because the board was prepared to exceed the tax cap.
“I think the reasons why so many people showed up two days before Thanksgiving and one of the reasons why you have so many people here now is a real lack of communication from some gatekeeping that’s been happening,” Vita said. “I think you may take offense to that because you believe you’ve been very communicative, but I will tell you that other jurisdictions have provided information to their constituents well ahead and while they are discussing the budget numbers to get them prepared and to let them know what amounts they’re going to be asking their constituents for.”
Marie Wayne, another Hawthorne resident, wanted to know why the town had to expend significant resources to answer calls at the JCCA when so many residents are struggling. She said the JCCA has assets that points to it being able to hire its own security to protect its residents rather than relying on town police.
There are often hundreds of calls each year to the town police department related to incidents at the campus.
“Even though people here aren’t starving, many can pay their bills, there are other people in the area having problems with it,” Wayne said. “But even people here, they’re going into credit card debt, they’re paying higher bills, so they’re using their children’s inheritance, they’re losing their retirement with what’s going on in the economy, and it’s happening all across the country, where not-for-profits are taking our money.”
Valhalla resident Joseph Soricelli said with the town having spent about $800,000 on police overtime this year, it could be advantageous to hire additional officers if it reduces overtime. The additional overtime pay to officers could also be inflating the contributions to the retirement fund.
Police Chief Paul Oliva said the town, with 52 sworn officers, operates with lean staff. The Town of Harrison, for example, which is similar in size and population, not including the villages of Pleasantville and Sleepy Hollow, have 73 officers.
“My mission as chief of police is to provide the best public safety for the most efficient cost,” Oliva said. “The officers that we have, it’s my responsibility to give them the best equipment and training that we can possibly give them within reason.”
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
