Bringing together the best "money minds" he could find, to give him "the most honest numbers possible," Massapequa Park Village Mayor Camillo Giannattasio called a financial summit two weeks ago. From there, he put together the Village’s financial plan for the coming year. He also embarked on a master plan called Massapequa Park 2010 that will establish a long term capital project plan and a plan for stabilizing the Village’s debt.

Before dollars and cents were even discussed, the Mayor asked the group to outline a strategy to accomplish that.

"The budget is a document that impacts on people’s lives," said Giannattasio. "We want to do a lot of things, but it is the budget that limits my power. The reality is that I cannot do everything."

Each year, the Village undertakes major projects such as repaving or resurfacing roads, addressing drainage, sanitation, maintenance and updating of its buildings and parks. And, each year, choices have to be made as to which projects will be moved from the drawing board to the Village’s "to do" list. The key is to be able to pick and choose which projects to do and when to do them and then to proceed in a logical sequence to maintain quality of life and services for Village residents.

"It is really a matter of cooperation and compromise so that whatever budget we finally adopt does not impact severely on any part of our Village," explained Village Administrator-Clerk William Colfer.

Village residents currently pay $6.78 per $100 of assessed value. That translates into a total annual Village tax bill on a home assessed at $7,000 of $475. While Giannattasio expects to see a small tax increase this year—between 4.5 and 5 percent—final figures on just what that increase will be will not be available for at least a week.

The Village’s budget for 1999-2000 was $4.7 million and the Village is carrying about $9.5 million in debt, which includes $4 million in bond anticipation notes it borrowed last year for the purchase of property for sand and highway department equipment storage.

Giannasttasio said he expects to pay off between half a million and three quarters of a million of the bond anticipation notes, reducing Village debt.

The purchase of the storage site freed up space at two local parks that Giannattasio said now he’d like to upgrade.

"We have a lot of young families moving into the Village and we need ball fields, so we plan to put money into those projects," said Giannattasio. "We have to make sure that these parks and fields are in good condition and are accessible to the children in this Village

"The key point is to put together a financial plan that will enable us to do these kind of projects without abandoning any of the regular projects that also need to be done," said Trustee John O’Brien.

Bob Sikora of Munistat Services,the Village's bond consultant, said that one way to ensure a sound bond rating is for the Village to maintain a reasonable and even debt level. Giannattassio said the plan is to borrow funds for new projects as older bonds are paid off.

"The credit market community prefers to see things like a 3-5 year capital budget on an ongoing basis such as the Village is considering instituting," said Sikora. "Investors take comfort in knowing that you are not just living from month to month or year to year; that the municipality has a feeling for what their capital project and infrastructure needs are and that they can be dealt with on much more than a short term basis."

The Village is also considering making two major changes that will have an impact on taxpayers. First, it is eliminating the cost of living increases that are automatically given to Village officials each year and second, it is adopting a local law that will permit senior citizens who currently have exemptions to pay their taxes in two installments.

"If we feel that we need a raise, I just believe the right thing to do is to go to the public with it," said Giannattasio. He added that he believed that adoption of the biannual payment plan for seniors will help offset any tax increase the Village passes, "reducing the impact on those seniors who live on fixed incomes," said the Mayor.

The Village will officially present its budget at a public meeting April 17. It has until the end of April to adopt the spending plan.