Though the village board intends to stay under the 2 percent tax cap, trustee Andrew Cavanaugh, chair of the board's finance committee, thought it prudent for trustees to prepare for an "inadvertent or advertent expansion" by way of a local law.

"It is certainly the intention of the finance committee and certainly of my colleagues on this board to stay under that 2 percent tax cap levy," Cavanaugh said. "However it is a very, very new and complex arrangement and there are some particularized penalties if you go beyond that cap even if you plan not to."

On June 30, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill limiting property tax increases to 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less.

Cuomo called the cap "a critical step toward New York's economic recovery" and county executive Ed Mangano said the cap is "long overdue" for Nassau residents and considered Cuomo's move "among the most important accomplishments" of the governor's first six months.

Cavanaugh said a "peculiarity" of this law is that once Garden City officials develop and submit the village budget, which could add up to or less than 2 percent of their calculations, that budget is then subjected to a review by the state comptroller's office. "That review could disagree with your calculations," he said.

Cavanaugh proposed that the board prepare for an expansion via a local law authorizing a budget submission beyond the 2 percent cap but emphasizing it is not the board's intention to go beyond that.

"We've been extraordinarily prudent in the past few years," he said. "We intend to be extraordinarily prudent this year but if we come to the end and we have a budget that requires a levy close to the 2 percent limitation we want to have the assurance that if we inadvertently go over that limitation we will not be penalized."

According to village auditor Jim Olivo, the biggest penalty the village would be hit with "is the fact that you have to put money aside that you exceed the cap by."

"That in itself isn't that bad," he said. "The problem is that they may not discover you exceeded the cap for three to four years depending on their audit schedule and you could have three or four years of cumulative cap problem."

The board must adopt a local law to authorize a cap override, which is good for one fiiscal year and must be approved by 60 percent of the local governing body. In Garden City's case, a simple majority of five positive votes will do. Twenty days notice must be given prior to a required public hearing.

"We would not effect the action to exceed the limitation unless we felt we had to and we would do that when we adopt our annual budget April 2," Cavanaugh said.

"It is a good move," Olivo said. "It is very common practice throughout New York State to override these caps. At this point I'm not sure what the percentage is but I know it's more than 50 percent. Overriding it is a good suggestion. It was suggested by the Conference of Mayors and a lot of villages are followng that."

Cavanaugh added, "This is by way of precaution, by way of covering all our bases. Many villages throughout the state have already taken this step."

A public hearing on the proposed local law is scheduled for Thursday, March 15, at 8 p.m. in village hall.