Amityville Record

Town set to vote on new budget Wednesday; increase in part-town tax bill; general tax bill to remain stableFree Access



The Babylon Town Board is expected to vote on the town’s new budget on Wednesday.

The new spending plan focuses on two new major initiatives: adding more park rangers to address quality of life issues and beefing up staffing in the town’s building and planning department to provide more responsive service to homeowners and developers.

The budget goes from $168.7 million to $175.98 million if approved and pierces the New York State Tax cap.

The general town tax rate, which includes property owners living in the incorporated and unincorporated areas of the town, will continue to pay $17.41 per $100 of assessed value; that is the same as this year.

However, property owners in the unincorporated areas will see an annual increase in taxes of $46.80 per $100 of assessed value a year, predominantly the result of efforts by the town to beef up the quality of service in the town’s building and public safety offices.

Since residents living in the three villages in the town are not served by the building and code enforcement departments, their tax bill will not be impacted by these additional costs.

Under the plan, the town anticipates hiring three more full-time park rangers, bringing the total to 8.

Babylon Town Supervisor Richard Schaffer said the town is addressing serious quality of life issues by adding park rangers who have police powers to its enforcement division.

“They carry weapons and can obtain and execute search warrants,” said Schaffer, adding that he and the rest of the town board believe it is vital to address quality life issues quickly and effectively.

“We want to aggressively address these issues and working with the Suffolk County Police Department, and our park rangers, we will be able to do that.”

Schaffer added that  since the town has authority over building and code violations, their park rangers can join forces with other law enforcement agencies to gain access to homes and buildings that are potential health and safety hazards or whose residents pose a nuisance in the community.

The Town’s park rangers have already been working closely with the Suffolk County First Precinct and with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office and recently were able shut down a smoke shop in Copiague that was selling  e-cigarettes to minors.

Moving forward, Schaffer said he also wants the park rangers to clean up problems at the local Long Island Railroad stations, writing summonses and making arrests, when necessary.

The additional funding for the building and planning department will enable the town to hire more personnel to handle building applications.

“When a resident or a developer comes into the town, we want to make sure that we are responsive and that they know we are here to help them through whatever process they have to go through,” said Schaffer.

Since residents living in the three villages in the town are not served by the building and code enforcement departments, their taxes will not go up.

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