On April 8, a public hearing for the 2024 - 2025 Village of Brightwaters tentative budget concluded with the budget being approved with a vote of 3 to 1 during the board of trustees meeting.

The $3,497,750.61 budget will be in effect from June 1, 2024 to May 31, 2025; the budget includes a garbage increase of $50 more a year/per household or per each garbage unit, a $300,000 transfer from general to capital assigned for road paving, and the tax cap will not be pierced.

During the Feb. 5 board of trustees meeting, the trustees voted to approve Local Law X-2024, allowing the board permission to override the village tax cap levy, which had been set at 2 percent. While the 31.20-per-thousand-assessed tax rate is a slight increase from the 2023-2024 30.68 tax rate, the tax cap was not pierced.

“I want to point out that we definitely had to tighten our belt on this one,” shared trustee Michael Dopsovic. “To stay below the tax cap, 2 percent, especially when the cost of living went up anywhere from 10 to 12 percent. So, for us to stay below 2 is pretty much a miracle.”

The new budget also introduces a garbage collection increase of $50 more a year per household or per garbage unit (~12%).

Valdini explained that the cost of garbage collection is separate from the regular percentage tax increase.

Four years ago, the billage put garbage collection out for public bid, and Alpha Carting was 40 percent cheaper than runner-up Winters Brothers. Four years later, the village’s contract with Alpha Carting is expiring, but the village has the right to extend the contract by two more years. While Alpha Carting wanted a 10 percent increase each year, they agreed upon a 12 percent increase the first year, with no increase the second, resulting in the $50 increase.

“We could have put it out for public bid, but it would have come back with Alpha Carting offering a 10 percent increase each one of those four years. So, we tried to get ahead of it,” explained Valdini. “Once we got the bids, there would be no negotiating.”

Trustee Patrick Fawcett went on to explain a financial strain placed on the board of trustees. Previous boards took out a bond to repair village roads, and the board has since been using state-funded CHIPS money intended for road repairs from the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program to pay for the bond for the past eight years.

Due to a recent change in law, the village is no longer allowed to use CHIPS money to pay off the bond. Fawcett explained that two years remain on that bond, and once that bond is completed, about $160,000 should be freed in capital each year, which can go back into repairing roads.

A point of contention during the public hearing was a lack of funding for maintaining the iconic lakes of Brightwaters. This previous year, the board of trustees spent $24,000 for a company to bring their own equipment and clean the lakes twice, remedying the overabundance of lily pads and invasive weeds in the lakes. 

“Our issues with it last year were that he came, and did a great job, it looked great for a couple of weeks, but when we needed him back, he was busy doing other jobs. By the time he came back it was too late,” explained Valdini. “So, the idea was to buy our own equipment, but it is not in the cards.”

A mechanical weed harvester ranges in price from $100,000 to $150,000.

Former mayor of Brightwaters Joe McDermott spoke out from the audience, expressing his disappointment that no funds were allocated toward lake maintenance.

“Sometimes you need to break the cap, and put it on your shoulders, to make sure things get done in the village, rather than stay under the cap, so you can say you stayed under the cap,” McDermott shared.

The board of trustees then voted to adopt the 2024-2025 adoptive budget, approving the budget with a vote of 3 to 1. Trustees Thomas Zepf, Michael Dopsovic, and Patrick Fawcett voted to adopt the belt-tightening budget, while Valdini voted against the budget.

“I don’t feel that the budget we passed was in the best interest of all the residents,” Valdini later explained. “We live in a very nice place, and it costs money to keep it that way.”