Declaring that the Board of Trustees had raised questions about the proposed tax override that they needed answered last evening, Mayor Norman Rosenblum of the Village of Mamaroneck postponed the scheduled public hearing on the matter until March 26.
“A local municipality can, on a yearly basis, vote to override the two percent tax limit,” said Rosenblum.
What would likely have been the main issue at last night’s board meeting, the proposed override of the state’s tax levy limit of two percent, requires the board to pass the law with a 60 percent supermajority. In Mamaroneck, it would require a 4-1 vote.
Before the board left the topic after quickly moving to put it off for two weeks, Trustee John Hofstetter suggested that the board could take money that has been put into a reserve fund “every year for the last few years” and “should be able to work within the two percent cap this year,” he said. “It is incumbent on all of us here to make sure this occurs.”
“My position now, and even after the public hearing will be that we should live within the two percent that the state has requested of us,” he said. “Other municipalities voted to allow this, but given our past history of how we’ve been able to use our ability to budget and cut back during the year . . . we should be able to stay within the two percent.”
The board had scheduled a number of public hearings on March 26 to address issues including an amendment to the authority of the Village Attorney (which will be held), changes to the Building Code regarding Certificates of Occupancy and a proposed ban on plastic bags at retail counters (which the board postponed).
In other business, the board accepted eight tax assessment revisions for residential property, transferred $3,000 from the budget allotted to village justice salaries to buying uniforms and weapons for use by two new court officers and approved an unforeseen $6,000 expenditure to service the village’s copy machines.
The board also approved spending a $72,000 retainer for the Village Attorney, plus expenses, and a $250 hourly fee for services outside the scope of the retainer.
As the board began to wrap up its agenda in under an hour before going into executive session to deal with personnel issues, Trustee Toni Pergola Ryan joked that board members should take the opportunity to speak longer and slow the meeting down.
“We’re usually here until midnight,” she said. “Our families would be shocked if we came home [at this hour].”
