Pictured Above: This is The Beacon’s stock town budget photo. If the budgets start to bother you, just look at the photo.
All five of the East End’s town supervisors have proposed preliminary budgets that pierce the 2 percent state property tax levy cap, as contractual obligations, insurance costs and inflation continue to have an impact close to home.
East Hampton Town
East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez is proposing a $103.7 million budget, which carries a 7.72 percent tax increase, which would represent an additional $104.28 per year for a property valued at $1.14 million outside of the villages, according to her budget statement.
“This budget serves as an accounting of our community’s priorities, it’s a reflection of what we value,” said Ms. Burke-Gonzalez in a press release announcing the preliminary budget. “We are committed to providing the programs and services our residents rely on, and this budget reinforces our resolve to meet their evolving needs.”
East Hampton’s budget includes a contractually obligated 4 percent increase in salaries for most town employees, and rising costs for employee benefits, including “significant mandated increases in health insurance premiums and retirement contributions necessitate these adjustments,” according to the town.
“The town plans to exceed the New York State tax levy cap to accommodate these changes, while responsibly using a portion of fund surplus to mitigate tax impacts on residents,” according to the budget statement.
“As we navigate these necessary modifications, our goal remains clear: to ensure that our staff is compensated appropriately and empowered to continue providing the services that East Hampton residents deserve,” said Ms. Burke-Gonzalez.
Southold Town
Southold Town Supervisor Al Krupski’s proposed 2025 budget carries a 6.44 percent tax increase, which “addresses the reality of having less revenue to work with… (and) addresses the reality of the increased costs of operation and contractual obligations,” he said in his budget statement.
The town’s total proposed budget is $57.9 million. Of that amount, $41.4 million would be raised by taxes, about $22 million would be raised through permit and user fees and $5 million would be appropriated from fund balances.
Mr. Krupski said Southold’s zero percent tax increase last year, before he took office, “didn’t address the reality of scheduled or forecasted increases in payroll, insurance, department services, retirement contributions and overall cost of all supplies and materials.”
He said the new budget also includes commitments to maintaining the town’s roadways, upgrading technology, keeping its vehicle fleet up-to-date and “staffing the police at proper levels and providing the officers with the necessary equipment and training.”
Riverhead Town
Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard has proposed a $117 million budget that carries a 7.9 percent tax increase, increasing spending in the town’s general fund by 4.1 percent.
“Just as the price of a box of cereal or a stick of butter have increased, so too have the costs to run the town,” said Mr. Hubbard in his budget statement. “The town-wide 2025 budget is 4.14 percent over the tax cap, due in large part to insurance premiums and retirement systems contributions. In fact, several surrounding municipalities will find the need to also pierce the tax cap for 2025. Riverhead also has contractual obligations, faces the need to replace old vehicles and must perform required maintenance and improvements to aging infrastructure and related equipment.”
Southampton Town
Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore has proposed a $134 million budget for 2025, an increase of 8.73 percent over the town’s 2024 budget, which carries an 10.07 percent tax levy increase.
The budget includes the addition of four new police officers and two promotions to sergeant, “thereby enhancing patrol supervision and enable us to respond effectively to increasing demands for service, traffic enforcement and sector coverage,” according to her budget statement.
It also includes funding for new code enforcement employees, including an Ordinance Inspector and Town Investigator, and communications upgrades.
Ms. Moore says a property owner with a home assessed at $1 million would see a $140 increase in taxes if the proposal is adopted.
“This increase allows us to keep pace with rising costs, particularly in employee health insurance and pension obligations, while maintaining the high level of service our residents deserve,” she said, adding that health insurance costs are expected to increase 6 percent, workers compensation insurance is expected to increase 10 percent and retirement contributions are expected to increase 6 percent.
Shelter Island Town
Shelter Island Town Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams has proposed a $17.7 million budget for 2025 that carries a 10.2 percent tax increase.
“There is clearly more work to be done, and some tough decisions that we as a board are going to have to make, she said in her budget statement. “That is not a number I wish to put on the taxpayers.”
Ms. Brach-Williams said contractual increases for town employees, and employee benefit costs are a major part of the budget, and her budget does not fund requested new positions including a part-time assessor, an archivist in the town clerk’s office, an half-day of work for a social worker and making the code enforcement/building inspector position full-time. A part-time clerk position in the highway department was also eliminated.
Mortgage tax revenues vary widely from year to year, she cautioned, and the town had budgeted in 2024 to receive $315,000 in mortgage tax but anticipates based on this year’s revenues that they will only receive $178,000 in 2025.
Ms. Brach-Williams also pointed out that, like many East End towns, Shelter Island had relied on pandemic-era federal American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funding for capital projects in recent years, but that funding will no longer be available going forward.
Town Boards will now work to refine the budgets over the course of October, and must hold public hearings on their preliminary budgets on or before the first Thursday following Election Day, and must adopt the final budgets by Nov. 20.
There is no penalty for towns to exceed the 2 percent property tax cap, but town boards do need a supermajority of members to vote in favor of the budget in order for it to be adopted.
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