Friday, March 31, 2023
Vol. 100, No.13
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FOUNDED 1923 n LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED
Put My Passio n and Experien ce To Work For Y ou
Kev in K im
Lic. R. E. Sales person O 516.307.940 6 M 516.578.278 7 kevin.kim@ell iman.com Garden City Office 130 Seventh Street | 516.30 7.940
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Art exhibit PAGE 61 n Wings hockey PAGE 67
WINTER TRACK WINNERS
Garden City Police Commissioner Kenneth Jackson asked the Village Board of Trustees for an increase for the 2023-24 departmental budget, partly due to a need to hire three new police officers. In addition, the village will face contractual increases in salaries for the police department, creating a salary-related line increase of
Village’s Recreation budget expected to rise by over 10% BY RIKKI MASSAND Garden City’s Recreation Department, like most municipal departments in Garden City, will be facing a series of increased costs for the coming year’s budget. In his presentation on the anticipated budget, delivered to the Board of Trustees last on March 23rd, Garden City Superintendent
of Recreation and Parks Paul Blake said personnel costs will increase 19% in the new budget. The department plans to hire three new laborers and a horticulturalist. Salary related expenses for will be at $3.598 for the coming fiscal year. Recreation and Parks has 44 full-time and 44 part-time employees, and salary-related costs make up two-thirds
(66%) of the Rec. budget. In addition to salary costs, benefits and taxes expenses are estimated to be approximately $2.1 million. As Blake outlined for the trustees the Rec. contractual services and utilities costs for the departments are also expected to rise by 7% above the forecast budget amounts. Contractual services would See page 60
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Police budget to increase with addition of three new officers BY RIKKI MASSAND
The Garden City High School Girls Winer Track Team had a great season, with several of the girls earning places in the county and state finals. See page 68.
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$1.264 million up to $10.806 million, an increase of 13% over the current budget. Benefits and taxes associated with GCPD personnel, including costs for retirees, will be $6.3 million more. Commissioner Jackson shared an overview of the Garden City Police Department’s grant funding success and programs for bodyworn cameras. The 2022-23 fiscal year budget did not include See page 27
BOT rejects use of surplus to fund new fire trucks BY RIKKI MASSAND Discord on the Village Board of Trustees about the proposed purchase of three new fire trucks came to a head during a budget workshop session on Thursday, March 16th when a majority of the board declined transfer funds for the purchase of two of the trucks. By a 5-3 vote the Board denied a proposal to transfer $2.3 million from the village’s surplus to the Garden City Fire Department ‘Equipment’ account for the purchase of new fire trucks. The village’s Fire Safety Committee had recommended the
purchase of three engines at once so that all three fire houses in the Village would have the same model truck. Mayor Cosmo Veneziale, Trustee Bruce Torino and Deputy Mayor Tom O’Brien advocated for the “standardized” GCFD fleet, which they said would improve operations of the department because engine drivers would only need to be trained on the one model. In addition, they said the village would reap cost savings benefits by making the bulk order. Prior to this year the village had allocated funds for a single new fire truck. See page 56
Kiwanis St. Patrick’s Day Luncheon PAGES 50-52 Churches prepare for Easter Sunday PAGE 30