A Better Budget Process for the People

Patchogue Village Budget

Hidden in Plain Sight?

While the readers of the Patch have recently been posting in large numbers to comment about vomit cleanup issues in the village scant attention has been paid to an issue that swamps any amount of vomit in the village namely the next village budget.

Monday at 5 p.m. the Board will be holding a public hearing on the proposed 2013-14 budget.  Afterwards a vote is expected. The meeting comes two weeks after notice of the public hearing was announced at the last meeting of the Board. Some media attention occurred thereafter about the fact that there was going to be a vote. Late last week the Village did have a copy for public review and if a person wanted a copy they could have one. Since then there have been some references to the budget on the Patch, and in this week’s edition of the LI Advance not a word in its pages that a vote was going to be held this Monday let alone any discussion of what the village budget contains or how high taxes are to go or why. In other words not exactly a media storm of attention.

Missed Chances

I have to say I find this all very troubling. The proposed Budget is actually several budgets one for the general fund for the village, another for the sewer district, and a third for the BID (Business Improvement District). I have seen it and I did not find that it is an easy document to follow.  For example although there is a figure regarding a new higher rate of taxation the exact percentage of the next tax increase is no where to be found. I am going to have to wait until Monday to hear from Village Treasurer Ronald Krawczky about that figure. And speaking about the Village Treasurer might not he have held an informal public session prior to the formal hearing and vote to educate the public about what can at times appear to  be a complex document with many special rules? Knowledge is power and what village government in my opinion should always be doing is empowering the public. That kind of meeting seems to me an easy way to inform. Yes perhaps a bit above and beyond the call of routine duty but so what if it was, the cause that would have been served would have been a good one.

Moreover absent from the village’s website is a copy of the proposed  budget too. If you did want to get a copy you would have to go to village hall where it is true you would get a copy for free. But in these modern times it seems to be that this is a slow option to get information out to the public

How Much Really?

As most know the village is limited to a two percent cap in terms of an increase but that cap does allow for it to be pierced to take in certain mandatory expenses such as pension costs. So two percent might mean some amount more than that and still fall within the limits of the so called two percent cap.

Trustee Ferb at a meeting of the Board not long ago warned that although the cap limit might be met due to the fact that the village’s tax base has shrunk that the effective or real tax increase might be higher.  Sort of a catch 22. Ten people go for lunch, the bill arrives, one person admits they can not pay their share, the remaining nine have to pay the bill.

More Missed Chances

While most of this is as it has been for some years  I also want to take note that the special meeting that is going to be held to hear public comment is being held at an even earlier time than past years. Now to be held at 5 p.m. The Board has been meeting at 6 p.m. Public attendance has been shrinking since it began to meet earlier but it is possible that an issue driven turn out may yet occur. Nevertheless wouldn’t a better option been a later hour not an even earlier one? What is more likely that people are going to leave work early to show up, or will show up after work and dinner? My guess the latter not the former option works the best to turn out people.

Most of this is the way things have been handled for the past several years. But it does seems to me that an almost thirteen million dollar budget deserves more time than just two weeks for review by the public. And whether two weeks or a full month certainly more publicity and facts about the budget should have been out there. I have a sense of a rush job and I do not see the need really.

I think this is a great loss truly. The public does have a role to play in all of this and can only play its role when truly informed. Ideas about how to reduce costs, or raise revenues are out there but they have be given a chance to be heard. I think that takes a little more time, and far more care for the public to feel included, and engaged. Without that time and concern what the public winds up feeling, when all is said and done, is marginalized, discounted, and excluded. And when it does the awful price that is paid is more cynical feelings and increased frustration on its part.

Tool for Learning the Facts

This blog is my personal view and in no way reflects the views of any other organization that I may belong to. I do note however that the Citizens Campaign for Open Village Government, of which I am a member, has obtained a copy of the proposed budget. It is posted on the organizations’ website and can be seen and downloaded by anyone: 

http://www.patchoguevillagecitizens.com/index.html .

Anyone interested in looking at that document and commenting here in the Patch would certainly be welcome. I am a home owner and tax payer. I would like to live in a village where village taxes didn’t go up by two percent or more. I would like to live in a village where my taxes went down by two percent or more each year if possible. How to get there I am not sure.  So I would certainly like to hear from other residents about their ideas. Together we might not be able to impact this budget but who knows with some new ideas in circulation there still may be ways of focusing attention on needed reforms that would produce  reduced taxes over time.  I know that sounds like science fiction but I for one want to always hope for the best outcome not the worse.

One step towards Fair Taxation

And just to get into the spirit of things here is one line of the budget I could figure out. Anticipated revenues from fees for outdoor amplified music. Village clubs must have a license from the village to play outdoor amplified music. The village has one of the most generous noise codes around. Restrictions on when outdoor amplified music can be played also pretty generous. For example a club can play music from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. if it wants at 70 decibels on a Saturday and be within the code. The licenses allow clubs to draw in patrons who come for the music. Without those licenses  it would be doubtful that they would draw in over the summer the tens of thousands, maybe more, customers that they do. The clubs have prospered. They appear to be million dollar businesses profiting from the ability to play amplified music as cited above.

Their total contribution to the treasury of the village for these licensing fees: two thousand dollars. Million dollar clubs, two thousand dollars in fees for outdoor amplified music.

That strikes me as a give away and the first place to start to prevent tax raises would be to ask clubs to pay their fair share by substantially hiking their fees. As far as I am concerned I would think twenty thousands dollars in fees should be collected and even that amount in proportion to the benefits that clubs get from the right to blast music is still a good deal for all of them. Just a little bit better deal for the public but at least that.

And here is just one idea where that extra money could go where it is needed most these days: fund two officer night foot patrols by Code on the streets of the village to stop vandalism,  and anti-social behavior of all types currently plaguing our village like vomiting on business storefronts a topic of much discussion these days where almost all possible solutions wind up with a call for more enforcement. A good idea but one that has to be paid for and this would be one way to do so.

The Real Bottom Line

And don’t forget: this Monday  4-8-13 at 5 P.M. last chance to say anything to the Board before they vote. The Mayor and the Trustees are people just like everyone else. They can count, they can see and hear. An empty village hall sends a message of complacency.  A packed village hall with concerned citizens sends another message that might strike a chord with them all. What happens soon is now up to the people of Patchogue Village and come Monday we will all see which message our elected officials get.