Asharoken Stays Within 2 Percent Cap

is committed to abiding by Cuomo's two percent cap on municipal taxes "no matter what it takes," according to Mayor Pat Irving, who said Wednesday that the proposed 2012-2013 budget currently calls for an increase of 1.86 percent.

"We have cut a lot of things, we've given no increases-- we planned for this," she said. "...We still have some contracts to negotiate but we cut wherever we could where we could still assure the village that we would still provide the services they needed."

Irving said the village board prepared for the cap at the outset of this year’s budget preparations by scrimping and saving wherever possible. A large chunk of their savings came from disaster aid which paid for certain costs incurred during Hurricane Irene and from the many volunteers who help with everything from running the village government to providing sanitation.

Irving said the village board is still working up the numbers and will present the tentative 2012-2013 budget at a public hearing on March 5 at 7:30 p.m. No hearing was held on the tax cap override option.

Last year's tax increase in Asharoken was 2.94 percent.

voted in December to with an increase of 4.22 percent in the 2012-2013 budget. The increase is currently within the parameters of the two percent cap because of exclusions for state mandated expenses.