P’ville’s 2024-25 Village Budget at $19.5M; 2.8% Tax Hike Proposed
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The proposed $19.5 million Village of Pleasantville general fund budget for 2024-25 increases the tax rate by 2.8 percent but is tax cap-compliant as officials are exploring alternatives to accelerate debt payments.
Last Monday, Village Administrator Eric Morrissey presented the spending plan that calls for a $13.3 million to be collected through property taxes, accounting for about 70 percent of village revenues. That is an increase of $591,000 over the current year’s levy, but $67,330 less than the maximum allowable levy.
However, Morrissey offered several scenarios to cover 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.
Major upcoming projects include the new pool reconstruction and associated flood mitigation efforts, the Nannahagan Brook wall reconstruction, water tank replacements and Memorial Plaza improvements.
Morrissey said there is a choice to either spread the burden of the debt service over two years or have one large increase next year.
“We’ve never broken the tax cap before,” Morrissey said. “The consideration is whether in 2026 we do a significant (tax) increase to cover the new debt service or do it incrementally over two years.”
The three alternative tax increases for village property owners Morrissey mapped out include a 4.35 percent tax increase where property owners would pay a $228 increase on average; a 5.9 percent increase tax averaging a $307 tax hike; or a 6.7 percent tax increase with an average tax hike of $346.
Those scenarios would generate an additional $200,000 to $500,000 that would pay for the debt service the village takes on.
Residential refuse taxes will not increase in 2024-25. Condo unit rates would be $361, single-family homes would pay $482, two-family residences would stay at $723 and three-family residences would pay $1,085.
Water rates will increase 2 percent for all residential, business, non-district and bulk customers because of the higher New York City raw water rates, chemical and operational costs and contractual expenses related to the Millwood Water Treatment Plant. The proposed budget has appropriations of $202,000 from the fund balance to keep water rates a few dollars above what they were last year.
Employee benefits in next year’s budget are projected to be $5.7 million, which pays for health insurance, pension contributions, Social Security and Medicare, among other benefits.
There is a proposed $2 million appropriation for the village’s various departments that includes the justice court, administration and finance department. Unchanged are the yearly salaries for mayor ($6,000) and village trustees ($3,500).
It is projected that $4.5 million would be spent on public safety, which includes building code enforcement, police administration, the patrol division and the detective and juvenile division.
Another $1.7 million has been allocated for public works, including road maintenance, snow removal and buildings and grounds.
Aside from property taxes, projected revenues come from the village’s building department fees, recreation programs and state and federal aid senior programs. Various grants have been secured for many of the capital projects, including $500,000 for the Nannahagan Brook wall; $200,000 for the wall’s design; $1.2 million for the Manville Road Corridor Improvement project; $600,000 for Phase 1 of the civic space and Memorial Plaza improvements; and $152,000 for playground replacements.
A public hearing on the 2024-25 budget is scheduled for Apr. 8. More information about the budget can be found at https://www.pleasantville-ny.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1076/f/uploads/tentative_budget_package.pdf.
Abby is a local journalist who has reported on breaking news for more than 20 years. She currently covers community issues in The Examiner as a full-time reporter and has written for the paper since its inception in 2007. Read more from Abby’s editor-author bio here. Read Abbys’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/ab-lub2019/
