Freepoort Budget Up Due To Two-Way Squeeze
The Village of Freeport is in a two-way financial
squeeze for the new fiscal year, Mayor Robert J.
Sweeney reported, in announcing the 1971-1972
tentative budget. The total operating costs are
$6,^77,177, up by $1,112,821 over last year, for
a tax rate increase of Si.26 per $100 of assessed
value. . .
The two-way squeeze, Mayor Sweeney said, is in
record-high cost figures on one hand and a saall-er
tax base to draw upon on the other hand. For
the first tine in many years, he noted, the total
assessed value of property in the Village has ac-tually
declined rather than increasing as usual.
This decline has been in the assessed value of
retail business properties, mainly in the central
business district, and in the newest apartment
houses.
Village Treasurer Leonard D.B. Smith reported
that the decline in assessed value was due main-ly
to court decisions. Property owners went to
court with operating cost figures as compared to
rents collected, and the courts ruled that their
tax assessments should be lowered to allow the
landlords a more equitable return on their in-vestments.
An additional $93*000 came off the
tax rolls due to additional veterans and senior
citizens tax exemptions. There .were some other
losses, such as $85,000 due to Guy Lombardo's
Restaurant being destroyed by fire.
In last year's budget, Mr. Smith pointed out,
there had been a substantial increase in assess-ed
value because the industrial park was virtu-ally
completed. This year, however, there was
very little industrial construction activity be-cause
there is very little available property
for large-scale industry, and the mortgage aar-ket
was not favorable for new construction.
Increases in salaries and personnel costs account
for the largest part of the rise in the new bud-get.
This represents. $^82,668, towards the total
increase in the budget of $1,112,821. Personnel
cost increases resulted froa the Village's con-tractual
obligations with the employees organiz-ations,
the Mayor said, plus the addition of new
employees in certain areas, such as the Police
Department.
Along with the salary increases are correspond-:
ing increases in employee benefits, amounting to
$208,000 more than last year. This is in retire-ment
fund payments, hopsital insurance and other
employee benefits.
Another substantial item of increase is in debt
service payments, which is repayment of bond
issues and other, funds borrowed by the Village
for capital improvements such as street improve-ment
programs, park improvements, new buildings
and large vehicles including fire trucks. This
budget item is up by $213,'»7P.
The budget also reflects a decrease in income
from commercial sanitation pick-ups, as more
business firms went to private carters when
the Village began its new method of assessing
sanitation costs. Mayor Sweeney pointed out,
however, that the lessening of commercial san-itation
volume thus far promises to save the
Village the cost of a new and much larger in-cinerator,
estimated at about four and one-half
million dollars, plus the additional personnel
that would be required to operate such an ex-panded
incineration unit.
The Village tax increase of $1.26 means that
you will be paying an additional $126.00 in
Village taxes for the year, if your home is
assessed at $10,000 for example. If your home
is assessed at $5,000 your additional tax for
the year will be $63.00, or about $5.25 per
month. The total Village tax rate will be $5.8*»
per hundred dollars, which means that a hone as-sessed
at $10,000 will be paying a total Village
tax of $58^.00, for example, or $292.00 on an
assessment of $5,000. The other taxes assessed
against Village residents are school district
and county taxes which are not under the juris-diction
of the Village government.
"We feel that this budget represents an arduous
and honest effort by the Village Board to provide
essential Village services at the lowest possible
costs in these inflationary tines," Mayor Sweeney
said.
"We find ourselves in the same sort of budgetary
. squeeze being experienced on- a broaden level by'
New York City and New York State, and our revenue
producing powers are .very limited by State, law.
Unfortunately, the burden is on the property tax,
which is'pften unjust .bjfcaus.e it does not..neces-sarily
relate to the person's current income."
Village News
A PUBLIC INFORMATION BULLETIN OF THE VILLAGE OF FREEPORT
46 NORTH OCEAN AVENUE TELEPHONE FReeport 8-4000 ROBERT J. SWEENEY, MAYOR
Public Meetings On The 1st and 3rd Mondays Of The Month, At 9:00 P.M.
• F E B R U A R Y 1971
Open House At New Power Plant
To give Freeporters an opportunity to see one of the Village's great assets, an open house will
be held at Power Plant #2, Saturday and'Sunday, March 6th and 7th, from 1:00 to '•lOO P.M. The
plant is located at the foot of Buffalo Avenue, south from Mill Road.
Interested residents will be able to view the two largest diesel type generators of any land-based
installation in the United States, manufactured by Fiat Motor Company of Italy, the low bidder.
School groups and other groups who wish to schedule a visit for another time should contact the.
office of Electrical Utilities Superintendent Ludovic Long at Freeport 8AOOO, extension 220.
Planning for the expansion of the Freeport system started in 1966 and construction of the new power
plant started in January of 1968. The expansion cost a total of some $7,000,000, but it was all
accomplished at no cost to the taxpayer because the bonds are being paid completely out of electric-ity
sales. The new plant is built on an old municipal disposal site. :
The new generating station was built around the two diesel engines built at the Turin, Italy plant
of Fiat Grandi Mptori. The Fiats (Model 906-ES) in'the new.plant are being used for base loading,
while the other plant on Sunrise Highway maintains peak generation. . - . - • - . :
Mr. Long estimates that the new station will burn 7,000,000 gals, of heavy fuel annually to produce
100,000,000 kwh of energy.
Tvwtecs: Gcotgc H.
CM: Ukm L MacOoMU - Ti
J. LoreUge, Lloyd E. OR,
-. Leonid D.B. Srth - Coond:
H. Wfctte
Geab^Ir.
Information On Fighting Pollution
Four pamphlets on the environment and control
of pollution in Nassau County are available free
from FREEPORT MEMORIAL LIBRARY, announced Or.
Joseph H. Kinnaman, Commissioner of the Nassau
County Health Department, as part of the Depart-ment's
program to bring needed current informa-tion
to the public. The publications, issued
for students and the general public by the De^
partment of Health, are entitled Air Pollution
Control, Land Pollution Control, Water Pollution
Control, and Water Supply. .
The publications are intended to furnish infor-
Snow Emergency
Remember the Snow Emergency Signal on the fire
horns — *» blasts, pause — 2 blasts. Your car
oust be off the street during the snow emergency,
or it is subject to being towed away at the own-er's
expense. Keep streets clear for snow plows,
fire trucks and other emergency vehicles.
Appointed
Dr. Nicola Muia has been appointed a Police
Surgeon of the Village of Freeport.
mation for the study of environmental problems,
and development of programs and legislation for
their solution. Illustrations supplement the
texts.
A rack to facilitate distribution of the pamph-lets
has been provided for Freeport Memorial Li-brary
by the Health Department. Painted light
orange, the rack has the Health Department seal
in blue and gold on the front. The booklets were
developed as part of the Health Department's in-tensive
campaign for environmental health control.
Noisy Mufflers Are Illegal
There have been complaints about some young Free-porters
who deliberately use a type of auto muf-fler
that is designed to magnify rather than muf-fle
motor noise. This is a violation of Local
Laws, Section 18-25:
No person shall operate or cause to be operated
any motor car, motorboat or other mechanism pro-pelled
by gasoline, fuel oil or other combustible
substance, unless the same be properly equipped
with a muffler, so designed and in such condition
as to prevent unnecessary noise in its operation.
Thanks From Fire Department
To Friends of the Fire Department
The Department has completed its Annual Fund Drive within the Village. Many residents are unaware
that the membership of the Fire Department is 100 percent volunteer. Freeport employs no paid
firemen.
Once each year the members petition the villagers to contribute to this drive that obtains the
funds necessary to offset the many expenses of running a large department, which are not covered
in the Village budget.
I, at this time, on behalf of Chief Gus Schmitt, ay Associate Deputy Chief, Carl Wallraan, the Of-ficers
and men of the Freeport Fire Department, extend thanks to our friends for making this drive
a huge success.
Residents, let the Department be of service during your time of need,
there are no fires or emergencies that are too saall. *
We are never off duty and
Yours in Service,
John Cappozzola
Deputy Chief
Residential Electric Rates Remain Lower In Freeport
Freeport residents will pay for electricity at
a lower rate than customers of the private u-tility
servicing the unincorporated areas of the
County, if the new Freeport electric rate sched-ule
is approved by the Public Service Commission.
The Village's application had an effective date
of February 1, 1971, and the final ruling had
not yet come from Public Service Commission when
this Village News went to press.
The average residential bill, about $11.^8 per
month, will increase by about 370', but this will
be a slightly lower charge than for the same
kilowatt-hour use by the private utility's res-idential
customer. Other Freeport residential
bills will increase or decrease slightly from
the rates last year, but the highest increase
will be 520 per month. On the other hand, some
residential customers, depending on the kilowatt-hour
use, will enjoy a decrease, some as high as
$2.23 a month.
With reference to commercial and industrial con-sumers,
approximately 70? will be paying less
than consumers of the neighboring private util-ity.
In the remaining 30?, most bills rendered
will be about the same as those of neighboring
private utilities, except for large consumers
who will be a few percentage points.above.
The previous Freeport electric rates have been
in effect since April of 1959, without any in-crease
until the present time. Superintendent
of Electrical Utilities Ludovic Long indicated
that the new rate structure, "will reflect
changes in patterns of use of Village customers,
and reprice certain portions of the rates in
those ranges of use that have affected costs."
The following is a comparison, new rates to old,
so that you aay estimate the effect on your own
electric bill:
Exhibit VIIA
VILLAGE OF FREEPORT, LONG ISLAND
Comparison of Net Billing Under Present and Proposed Rates
Regular Residential Service - Monthly Billing
Monthly Net Billing Increase or (Decrease)
Proposed
S.C. 1
$ 1.20
1.20*
1.32
1.52
1.92
2.32
2.72*
3.55
4.37*
4.95
5.52
6.10
6.67
7.82
8.97
10.12
11.27
11.85
12.42
13.47*
15.47
17.37
18.32
19.27
21.17
'23.07
32.57*
41.07
49.57
•Indicates Point at which Kwh charges change
••Average Monthly Kwh use by residential customers in Freeport
NOTE: An applicable reduction of 0.5(5 per Kwh for use between
500 and 1000 Kwh will be available to consumers with
hot water heaters.
1000 Kwh - $23.07 w/hot water heater $20.57
Monthly
Kwh Use
10
12
15
20
30
40
50
75
100
125
150
175
200
250
300
350
400
425**
450
500
600
700
750
800
900
1000
1500
2000
2500
Present
S.C. 1
$ 1.00*
1.09
1.22
1.43
1.86*
2.18
2.50
3.30
4.10
4.90
5.70*
6.23
6.75
7.80
8.85
9.90
10.95
11.85
12.00
13.05
15.15
17.25
18.30
19.30
21.30
23.30
33.30
43.30
53.30
Amount
$ 0.20
0.11
o.io
0.09
0.06
0.14
0.22
0.25
0.27
0.05
(0.18)
(0.13)
(0.08)
0.02
0.12
0.22
0.32
0.37
0.42
0.52
0.32
0.12
0.02
(0.03)
(0.13)
(0.23)
(0.73)
(2.32)
(3.73)
%
20..0
10.1
8.2
6.3
3.2
6.4
8.8
7.6
6.6
1.0
(3.2)
(2.1)
(1.2)
0.3
1.3
2.2
2.9
3.2
3.5
4.0
2.1
0.7
0.1
(0.2)
(0.6)
'(1.0)
(2.2)
(5.2)
(7.0)
