A Rundown of the Proposed 2012-13 White Plains Budget

White Plains residents will keep their services under the 2012-13 budget, which will raise the City’s property tax rate by 5 percent—staying $100,000 under the state mandated 2 percent tax cap levy.

"In developing this budget, I requested that the Budget Director work to keep spending down to the greatest extent possible," said Mayor Tom Roach, in a statement. "I am pleased that the proposed budget is below the state's recently enacted property tax cap despite continued increases in mandated costs and without any immediate mandate relief from the state."

The proposed tax rate is $184.92 per $1,000 of assessed value—$8.81 more than the current rate of $176.11. The median taxed assessed value of a White Plains home is $13,400.

White Plains will raise an additional $2 million in taxes to support the $152.4 million budget, which is a 4 percent increase over that raised tax bills by 4.9 percent. 

Driving the 5 percent increase are a $2.9 million increase in employee pension costs and a $2.6 million drop in the City’s taxable assessed value.

Though there will be no layoffs in the proposed budget, 16 vacant positions will be eliminated. Funding the budget will be an increase of $1.15 million in unrestricted sales tax, and an additional $2.4 from the appropriate fund balance. Debt proceeds were not needed to fund the 2012-13 budget proposal.

The proposal also reserved $1.4 million to provide salary settlements for three unions, at a rate previously negotiated by the Civil Service Employees Association.

Click here to view the budget.

The City will delve into specific parts of the budget during weekly budget meetings starting April 9 at 6 p.m. A public hearing on the budget will be held on May 7 at 7:30 p.m. at city hall. Click for the full budget meeting schedule. The White Plains Common Council is set to vote on the budget on May 21.

"I look forward to working with my Council colleagues to further review this proposal with the goal of enacting a budget that provides cost effective and efficient services for our taxpayers," said Roach.

Follow our coverage on the budget by clicking here.

Like us on  Facebook  (facebook.com/WhitePlainsPatch) and follow us on  Twitter (twitter.com/WhtPlainsPatch)