Lindenhurst village tax declines again - a bit

Lindenhurst residents will see a slight decrease in the village's portion of their tax bill this year, marking the 12th decrease by the village in 15 years.

The Lindenhurst tax rate is dropping about 1 percent, from 0.227 to 0.225 per $100,000 assessed value.

"We only make up about 3.5 percent of the total tax bill, so it is sort of an insignificant number, but it's something," said Jim Stevens, village administrator. "It's very rare that tax entities reduce the rate every year, and it's a lot better than our portion increasing."

The Lindenhurst village board unanimously passed the 2008-09 operating budget this week, which included the new rate.

The $12.7 million budget is down from the $13.1 million 2007-08 budget.

Stevens said the reduction is because of fewer capital projects that fluctuate from year to year.

"The budget actually continues going up between 2.5 and 3.5 percent every year," he said.

Major expense items for the 2008-09 year include:

• An additional part-time community service officer in the police department: $18,000

• An emergency road allocation fund: $60,000

• The first phase of a water main replacement: $1.2 million, and $956,000 for a shallow well house

• Expenses related to the Village Green project: $524,000. Stevens said the village will recoup costs for the multi-use development planned for the northwest corner of Routes 45 and 132, but will have to front the costs of infrastructure inspections, plumbing and plan review fees.