Plaza Approves Budget, Full-time Status For Mayor

The Great Neck Plaza Board of Trustees approved last week a final budget and salary schedule which shows a decrease in spending from $5.254 million last year to $5.214 for 2013-14. 

"This is the sixth consecutive year we've held the line on taxes," said Plaza Mayor Jean Celender Jan. 16 at Village Hall. "I really firmly believe now that this quite an achievement for this many years under these economic times."

No cuts to village services were included in the plan, according to Celender.

For the seventh straight year, the general tax rate for the village will remain at 4.36 per $100 assessed valuation, according to Celender.

A pay raise for Celender from a part-time to full-time salary was approved as part of the budget plan. 

Begining March 1, the mayor's salary will rise from $40,000 to $65,000. 

The pay increase sets mayoral pay in the Plaza at a level nearly equal to that of a decade ago. Two previous Great Neck Plaza mayors before Celender served full-time.

In 2000, Celender's first year as mayor, her pay was reduced from $60,000 to $25,000 for part-time employment. In 2007, the village board approved a $40,000 part-time salary for Celender.

"I didn't have the ability to be full-time when I came on because I had my own business," said Celender, founder and president of JAC Planning Corp. in Great Neck Plaza.

Celender, a transportation grant expert, told Patch she made a conscious decision to close down her 28-year Bond Street office in June, while keeping her corporate entiity intact.

With more time to serve in her elected position, the mayor has been free to take on extra duties which benefit the village such as serving on the executive committee of the Nassau County Village Officers Association and conducting weekly village staff meetings, according to village Trustee Gerry Schneiderman.

Schneiderman said he felt the pay raise for Celender was not enough money.

"I thought she should be getting more," Schneiderman said last week.

Village Trustee Pamela Marksheid said she does not know anyone that works as hard as Celender.

"She puts in more hours than anybody else I know and the people in this village benefit from her hard work," said Marksheid.

Celender's two-year term ends in March of 2014.

Village trustees receive an annual salary of $10,000. The village deputy mayor receives $12,500 per year.

Deputy Mayor Ted Rosen voted against the proposed 2013-14 budget last week.

Follow Great Neck Patch on Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Sign up for our free Newsletter