The Town of North Hempstead is proposing a tentative 2025 budget of $173.7 million, a 5.98% increase, with taxes set to remain the same and no cuts to town services.
The budget is broken into four groups: the general fund, the town outside village fund, the town-operated special districts fund and the commissioner-operated special districts fund. Commissioner-operated special districts are not calculated into the town’s overall budget.
The general fund, which is the town’s main operating fund funded by taxes, amounts to $98 million.
The town outside village fund, which covers services for residents who live outside incorporated villages, amounts to $44.8 million.
The town-operated special district budgets, which encompass 20 special districts, amount to $30.7 million.
The Department of Parks and Recreation is the largest expense of the general fund budget, amounting to about 23.08% of the total.
General fund budget expenses would increase by $6.1 million, which is attributed to projected insurance increases, greater parks and recreation expenses and solid waste management cost increases. Town Director of Governmental Research Steven Pollack said projected revenue increases from the town’s parks are expected to offset its expense increases.
For the town outside village budget, the Highway Department is the largest budget expense at 32.1%.
Expenses for this fund would decrease by $1.4 million.
The town’s overall revenues in 2025 are also projected to increase by $6.2 million compared to 2024 for nearly a 10% increase.
Revenues for the town outside village fund are projected to increase by $3.8 million. Pollack said this is anticipated due to the school bus sign camera project, which fines drivers who violate bus stop sign laws, and from interest earnings and zoning fees.
To balance the budget, $6.7 million is being used from the town’s fund balance for its general fund. Another $4 million would be used to balance the town outside village fund.
The fund balance is a collection of the town’s revenue surpluses.
After spending this amount, Pollack estimated that about $27.5 million would remain in the general fund balance. As for the town outside village fund balance, that would be about $9 million at the end of 2025.
The town budgeted about $6.8 million to be spent from the general fund balance in 2023. Pollack said
Council Member Mariann Dalimonte questioned the use of the fund balance, saying that someday it may run out because the town’s expenses are not matching its revenues.
“And when that runs out, we’re going to have a problem,” Dalimonte said.
But Deputy Supervisor Joseph Scalero said this is the intent of the fund balances, saying they are a result of overfunding for the town typically due to over-taxation. He said using the fund balance prevents them from increasing taxes.
“It’s not that revenues aren’t matching expenses or vice versa,” Scalero said. “The town, this board, chooses to spend a certain amount each and you have to pay for it and if the revenues don’t cover that, the nontax revenues don’t cover that, you’re looking at taxes. And so this is a way to restore some of that tax relief for the years that they were overtaxed.”
The stagnant tax rate proposed for 2025 comes after the town enacted a 10% property tax cut last year.
Scalero said this year the town may end up with a surplus, which would go toward the fund balance.
The budget includes a stagnant salary for the supervisor, council members town clerk and receiver of taxes. Those salaries would remain at $133,000 for the supervisor, $49,000 for council members, $105,000 for the town clerk and $115,000 for the receiver of taxes.
