Village of Flower Hill Budget Approved

About 20 Village of Flower Hill residents gathered at the April Board of Trustees meeting, where the proposed 2010-11 budget was presented. Mayor Charles W. Weiss discussed the $3.34 million budget, which was passed unanimously by the Board of Trustees during the meeting earlier this month.

Weiss expressed his satisfaction with the budget and the work done by the budget committee, which included himself along with trustees Aviva Pinto and Avery Ryan.

"They did a fantastic job," Weiss said. "It is a comprehensive, easy to understand budget that we can be proud of. And the good news for taxpayers is that the impact on homeowners is negligible."

The current tax rate for village residents under the new budget is $26.48, compared to $23.21 under the 2009-10 budget. For Flower Hill residents within Port Washington, the assessment was $2,066,190, with a fire rate of $15.07.

More than half of the village's revenue will come from property taxes and other taxes that total $2,208,723. Licenses and permits will raise $476,800, and state aid will supply $272,300.

Total appropriations for the entire village in 2010-11 are $3,343,123. General Government Support is the largest village expense, accounting for $839,150 of the appropriations. Public Safety is next with $792,173, with 68 percent of that going to the fire contract. Transportation and Community Services follow, each with more than $600,000 in expenses.

"This year we budgeted a minimal amount for roadwork," Weiss said. "For the last 12 years or so we've had a couple of major road projects every year, but we have now completed that and all the village roads have been upgraded. We will now have to go into upkeep mode for our roads, but we don't have any major work left to do."

Finally, Weiss discussed the village's steps to improve emergency response, and also looked ahead to his third elected term as mayor.  

"In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we established an Office of Emergency Management that is FEMA compliant," Weiss explained. "We established a calling system to call every home in the village in an emergency. For the future, we have to be more resourceful as to how we raise and spend our money. We'll have green issues as we explore energy alternatives such as solar and wind."

Weiss added, "I'm extremely proud of all of our staff. We've made a lot of changes to the village laws as we've dealt with issues as they've come up, and strengthened our code in the process. The result is that we have provided a really nice village for our residents."