Northport Village Notebook: Tax Cap Squeeze; Commercial Filming

Two Percent Tax Cap Putting on the Squeeze

Trustee Henry Tobin suggested that the village begin identifying discretionary items in the budget as a balanced approach to the state's two percent tax cap. "I think that this extra step this year of identifying where we have discretion and where we don't will go a long way towards creating a good productive conversation and an intelligent one under the new circumstances that we have," he said. "...I hope everyone will contribute their review to this, we will certainly get our treasurer's guidance on it and we will also look at revenues in the same way."

Mayor George Doll said that many counties have spent down some of their fund balance over the past two years to keep taxes down and are now struggling with a two percent tax cap as the cost of unfunded state mandates keeps climbing.  One of the things sacrificed as winter approaches may be overnight snow plowing, he said. "Overtime is quite an expense that, in this particular town, they've said that if there's an inch or two of snow they just may not come out at night, they may come out in the morning. We always pride ourselves here of getting the snow cleaned up at night and everyone goes to work in the morning but...some of the flat ground we just may leave it until the morning," he said. "Something has to give."

Nor'Easter Update

The village had a sander and plows ready for the Halloween weekend Nor'Easter that, thankfully, dumped the most snow to the west but still wrought damage from high wind. "We had twelve boats come ashore in the harbor, maybe five on Vanderbilt as the storm started out blowing from the Northeast, came around to the north and a few more broke loose," said Doll. "It was twelve altogether, I had predicted eight."

Quiet Halloween

Halloween provided a calm finish to a busy October with 500 calls for service and 11 arrests, according to Police Chief Ric Bruckenthal, who jokingly said he wished there were a law against having Halloween fall on a Friday or Saturday night.

Street Closure Approved

The board approved a request from the to close Main Street from Laurel to Cherry on Nov. 20 from 4-6 p.m for a candlelight vigil to read the names of patients who have passed away at the hospice over the past six months. "I talked to the chief and they really have had no traffic problems over the past years," said Doll.

American Express Filming Commercial in Northport

The board discussed a request from American Express to film a commercial in the alley next to on 100 Main Street. Mayor Doll said the owner of Jones agreed to allow an artist to paint a mural of a bird on the side of the building for filming, provided that it is repainted upon completion of the shoot. The board agreed to request $1000 per day compensation from American Express for the use of village property, $135 per hour for police officer presence, and $155 per hour for police supervisory personnel. The date for the shoot has not yet been set.

The next Northport Village Board of Trustees meeting will be held on Nov. 15 at 6 p.m.