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Adam Zickmund of Quickway Sanitation picks up garbage along Blush...

Adam Zickmund of Quickway Sanitation picks up garbage along Blush Lane in Mastic Beach. (Feb. 22, 2012) Credit: James Carbone

Mastic Beach has kept a promise to its taxpayers that the young village's first tax bills would not include an increase to the rates residents paid to Brookhaven Town before the community incorporated.

Whether the village's services are as reliable as Brookhaven's -- and whether taxes will remain level-- is a subject of a debate among village officials and residents.

Mastic Beach residents' first tax payments were due last month, and the village held the line on taxes, with the owner of an average home owing about $240 in property taxes and garbage collection fees, village records show. Brookhaven would have charged the same tax rate, records indicate.

That Mastic Beach's tax rate matched Brookhaven's is a victory for the village, where a group of residents -- including a mayor who resigned this week -- pushed for incorporation in 2010 with a promise that a village government could provide improved local control without raising taxes, said Bob Morrow, a village trustee.

"Promise made, promise kept," Morrow said. "And we're going to work towards having another neutral tax year."

But some residents of the 5.3-square-mile village, including Alan Chasinov, one of two nonincumbent candidates for trustee in next month's elections, fear a tax increase will occur if Mastic Beach attempts to expand services -- which he said are lacking. Chasinov, who paid $199 in village taxes, said services such as street sweeping and garbage collection have suffered.

"You can say that they are, at this point, tax neutral," Chasinov said. "What you can't say is that we are receiving the same services as before. We haven't seen a street sweeper, we haven't seen a storm drain cleaned."

Morrow and other officials in the village of about 11,500 residents say services have held steady since incorporation.

Mastic Beach's first tax bills, which carried a tax rate of $12.785 per $100 of assessed valuation, covered the village from January 2012 through May 2012. State law required Brookhaven to cover the village before January. The first tax bill for a full year -- June 1, 2012, to May 31, 2013 -- will be due in May, village officials said.

Ken Olivo, a village trustee, said Mastic Beach is "working towards" a bill without a tax increase, but that will be determined during the budget process in April.

Olivo and others pointed to Mastic Beach's busy village court and code enforcement workers as evidence the village is serving taxpayers. Village authorities issued 1,330 tickets in its first six months, and collected more than $60,000 in traffic and code violation tickets, officials said.

"Our code enforcement officers have been out. We're doing what we've promised to do, for quality of life, for the residents of Mastic Beach," Morrow said.

But Bob DeBona, president the Mastic Beach Property Owners Association, said he's not convinced taxes will stay level. "I think their whole thing was to hold off, not spend a lot of money, and show you a small tax bill," DeBona said. "We need to be cautious and do the right things."

Rock climbing? Indoor beach volleyball? Water parks? Arts and crafts? NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to spend your winter break. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp, Kendall Rodriguez; Gary Licker

Things to do now on LI Rock climbing? Indoor beach volleyball? Water parks? Arts and crafts? NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to spend your winter break.

Rock climbing? Indoor beach volleyball? Water parks? Arts and crafts? NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to spend your winter break. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp, Kendall Rodriguez; Gary Licker

Things to do now on LI Rock climbing? Indoor beach volleyball? Water parks? Arts and crafts? NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to spend your winter break.

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