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Mamaroneck Village Board Passes 2% Tax Levy Cap Override

MAMARONECK, N.Y. — The Mamaroneck Village Board of Trustees voted to override the state-mandated tax cap in the 2013 budget Monday evening but said the option to go over the limit would be exercised only in the event of unforeseen circumstances.

Mamaroneck Mayor Norman Rosenblum opens a hearing about the tax cap Monday night.

Mamaroneck Mayor Norman Rosenblum opens a hearing about the tax cap Monday night.

Photo Credit: Chaya Babu

"The reason we do this is not to have a goal of having a budget increase of more than 2 percent," Mamaroneck Mayor Norman Rosenblum said at the meeting. "It is to allow this Village Board and the administration to have the option, due to some unknown factor now, to exceed that tax cap."

Trustee Ilissa Miller said, “We are very serious about keeping the budget under control, but this gives us some flexibility, because uncertainties do occur, to be able to do what we need to do as a village to support ourselves.”

Under the local tax cap law, the Village of Mamaroneck is allowed to adopt a budget for the fiscal year of June 1, 2013, to May 31, 2014, that requires a real property tax levy in excess of the "tax levy limit" (2 percent) as defined by the state. This override requires a 60 percent majority vote, and the board approved it unanimously Monday.

"In this village, there are a tremendous number of people with economic hardships, and we have to live within our budgets," Mamaroneck Village resident Dan Natchez said to the board after the motion was approved. "It seems that the government should also have to live within its budget. We need to be more fiscally prudent to avoid this.”

The referendum was passed in the 2012 fiscal year as well, but the board did not need to use it. Miller said they hope for the same this year.

“We don’t want to be in a position where we have to cut basic services and those that help improve the quality of life in the Village of Mamaroneck,” Rosenblum said.

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