By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese

As the nation faces an economic crisis of historic proportions, the Garden City Board of Trustees reviewed its own budget and acknowledged that the local financial picture also poses challenges that have not been faced in recent memory.

The Board of Trustees met with department heads to conduct a quarterly review of operational budgets on October 2nd before the regular Board meeting. The budget year runs from June 1, 2008 through May 31, 2009.

The four major concerns are with the rising cost of energy, overtime, tax certiorari cases and interest rates. Revenue is currently running behind expenditures. As every resident is aware, the cost of fuel has increased exponentially; according to Village Auditor James Olivo, an $80,000 deficit is estimated if the cost continues to rise during the remainder of the budget year.

Residents will likely see a tax increase of at least 7 to 8 percent, according to Second Deputy Mayor Thomas Lamberti. He said one way to avoid a large tax increase is to increase revenues and he offered some revenue-generating ideas, including having the business community pay for garbage services. He wants Village administrators to re-examine how services are delivered to residents and he suggested hiring a consultant.

Lamberti also advocates increasing parking fees. Last month he unsuccessfully introduced a plan to institute a $100 parking permit fee for two Village parking fields but his idea was rejected by the rest of the Board of Trustees.

The Board has concerns about increased overtime costs in both the Village police and fire departments. The police department is experiencing a 40 percent increase in overtime. During the first quarter last year, the department spent $184,552 in overtime; this year, the cost is $257,812, which is an increase of $73,259.

Police Commissioner Ernest Cipullo explained that the department was working with 11 less personnel due to long term injuries, one military leave and four retirements. The department is looking to fill the positions vacated due to retirements. He also said that there have been more special events, which causes an increase in overtime costs.

"All of our overtime costs are related to personnel," he explained. "In the areas where we can control overtime, I think we've done fairly well."

The fire department has seen an overtime increase of more than 143 percent, mostly due to sick leave. Last year, the department spent $3,310 in sick leave for the first quarter; this year, the total is $72,966. Capt. Gil Frank said four firefighters were out due to injuries; one has since returned to full duty and one has resumed light duty. Also, the department incurred an overtime expense when the main Fire Command Center antenna was hit by lightening on June 14 and firefighters had to handle dispatches from the local firehouse.

Meetings on the 2009-2010 budget are scheduled to begin in January.