NHP adopts $7.5M 2023-’24 budget

Devane discusses playground costs

BY BRANDON DUFFY

The New Hyde Park Board of Trustees unanimously voted Thursday night to approve a $7.5 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year with a tax levy increase of 0.65%.

Mayor Christopher Devane apologized to residents and took full responsibility for the village being unable to return half of the $200.88 increase in village taxes that were raised last year, dedicated to the construction of a new community center to replace Marcus Christ Hall, which was demolished last winter.

“As much as I want to be telling you I am giving you back the $100 from last year, I am not and that’s on me,” Devane said during his report. “We have had many discussions on this board on what to do with those monies and I am well aware I wanted to get that $100 back.”

BY ROBERT PELAEZ

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s controversial housing plan that is not likely to be in the state’s 2024 budget used incorrect data on multi-family dwelling units on Long Island, according to Vision Long Island Director Eric Alexander.

“We’re kind of low-balled here,” Alexander said in an interview with Blank Slate Media Friday.

The core of the plan, as of Friday, will not be included after strong opposition from local officials, according to Politico and multiple reports. Alexander, who has worked for the regional smart growth organization for 25 years, said that the multi-family unit census data used by the state in Hochul’s proposal was not an accurate representation.

The state, according to Alexander, used a figure of 6,500 multi-family dwelling units that were approved on Long Island during the past dozen years. A pair of 2022 spot checks by Vision Long Island and Carolyn Grossman Meagher, director of the New York City Regional Planning Division, revealed that in Long Island’s downtown areas, there had been 16,000

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That figure surpasses 20,000 such units approved in all of Long Island during roughly the last 17 to 20 years, Alexander said. Data used by the state showed that Mineola had 300 such units, Alexander said, when the spot checks revealed the number was really 1,200.

Efforts to reach state officials for comment on the matter were unavailing.

Hochul’s plan called for a 3% increase in housing units over three years, the possibility of the state stepping in if the 3% goal was not met and the use of transit-oriented developments to achieve that objective. The plan was intended to addressa shortage of 800,000 housing units in the New York metropolitan area.

Data from the 2020 Census showed there were more than 78,000 households in North Hempstead. A total of 2,364 housing units would have to be constructed in the town over the next three years to meet Hochul’s 3% goal.

The deadline to finalize a state budget was April 1, although nothing

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Alexander said the plan would have negatively affected all of Long Island and that a regional-based approach to solve a need for housing will not work in Nassau and Suffolk County. Providing affordable and general housing, he said, is still a necessity, but he fears the heated opposition to Hochul’s plan could jeopardize responsible development in the pipeline.

“This has been a disastrous setback,” Alexander said. “The process of fighting this…this battle that people want to continue will set back housing production.”

Alexander said rational discussions without “finger-pointing and attacks” should be had in every municipality about multi-family dwelling projects, mixed-use proposals and zoning laws. Proposals such as these can help accommodate areas where the general population may be rising, he said, and promote supporting local businesses.

“These constituencies coming out against housing now makes it a lot harder to plan from the bottom up,

Devane said at the time of last year’s increase that it was a “one-shot deal” but added last week that unforeseen circumstances in the costs of capital projects in the village have delayed returning the $100.

Specifically, Devane pointed to the increased cost of installing a new playground at Memorial Park, which the village DPW excavated in October.

“The number to install over the past year has ballooned from approximately $120,000 to $130,000 for the turf and playground equipment itself to approximately $340,000,” Devane said.

The mayor added the village set aside approximately $350,000 for the playground, including approximately $215,000 for equipment.

“I take full responsibility for that and I am not happy about it,” Devane said. “We want to give you a class park that you’re proud of, we want to give you facilities you are proud of and as far as Memorial Park is concerned we are well on our way to that.”

The new budget includes a tax rate of $27.50 per $100 of assessed valuation, which represents no change from the tax rate last year. Average assessed households with an assessed valuation of $5,400 would be required to pay $1,485 in village taxes, the same as last year, according to officials.

The $7,508,092.25 general fund, which includes maintenance and operation of the village, marks a 1.84% increase from the current budget.

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