$1 Million Plus for New Emergency System
East Hampton Village’s proposed $21.4 million budget for 2017-18 was put on hold after a public hearing last Thursday so that the village’s share of a new East Hampton Town emergency communications system could be included.
Becky Hansen, the village administrator, told board members that based on a meeting with the Motorola company, the village’s portion looks to be between $1 million and $1.2 million.
“Now that we have a preliminary number,” she said, “we are going to try to incorporate as much of that as we can into the budget” to minimize future borrowing. The proposed budget already includes $200,000 in the capital fund to offset the expense. “As we try to pin down those numbers and get closer to what we think we’re going to be able to appropriate for it . . . it will be in a revised budget for the 16th,” she said.
The police, fire departments and their ambulance services, bus drivers, Highway Department workers, and parks and recreation staff all use the emergency communication system. It had been found to be outdated and inadequate.
The new system will include new consoles for the dispatch center, which is at the firehouse on Cedar Street, backup consoles, and an upgrade of portable radios for police, fire, ambulance, Department of Public Works, and beach personnel.
“It’s a very complex subject, very expensive, but . . . we’re committed to make this work and will certainly own up to our share of the financial obligation,” Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. said,
Without adding anything for the system, the budget shows a spending increase of $372,508. However, the mayor said increases in revenue and taxes would be minimal. When the proposed budget was unveiled last month, it was estimated that the tax rate would rise by .11 percent, to $28.89 per $100 of assessed value, with property tax revenue to go up by 1.1 percent, or $137,002. The tax rate increase is under the state-mandated tax cap.
The public can submit comments on the budget until Friday, June 16.
Also at the meeting, Steven Ringel, executive director of the East Hampton Chamber of Commerce, thanked the board for its support of the village’s first-ever street fair, on May 20. Some 35 emails received from businesses, residents, and others were overwhelmingly positive, and restaurants and food markets had “a better day than they had expected,” he said.
Mr. Ringel cited an editorial in last week’s East Hampton Star praising the fair and disagreeing with a suggestion made by some business owners that future fairs be moved farther up Newtown Lane. This year’s location, between Main Street and the entrance to the Reutershan parking lot, “is really the epicenter of the village, and it really is essential that it remain where it is,” Mr. Ringel said.
At the suggestion of some merchants, Mr. Ringel asked the board to consider allowing them more direct involvement in future fairs, possibly by permitting them to have sidewalk sales. “In representing our business owners as the Chamber of Commerce, I would say that might be something we want to consider for next year if it’s done in a classy, responsible way.”
The mayor called the street fair “a home run” that “showed a different side of what our beautiful village is all about . . . we can certainly build on it.”