Board Okays a Tight Budget

Sag Harbor Mayor Brian Gilbride’s last budget before he leaves the village board in two months would increase spending by under 1 percent. The tax rate would go up ever so slightly, to about $2.74 per $1,000 of assessed value. For example, a house valued at $795,000 would pay about $2,180 in taxes.

Board members and Mr. Gilbride, who said this week he would not seek re-election, approved a proposed $8.58 million budget during a meeting on April 14. Spending would go up .89 percent, according to Beth Kamper, the village clerk.

The financial plan does not include the sewer allocation of $581,143, bringing the total budget to $9.16 million for the fiscal year beginning June 1 and ending May 31, 2016.

There was little room in the tight budget for big-ticket items. Perhaps the biggest change is the proposed inclusion of $110,000 for paid responders for the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps, allowing for a hired emergency medical technician to be on hand 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Ms. Kamper said the ambulance corps, which serves the village, Noyac, and North Haven as well as some outlying areas, hopes to have the new position staffed by June 1.

A paid position was included in the 2014-15 budget, in the amount of $63,500, but the money was transferred elsewhere when the ambulance corps decided to put the program on the back burner for one year, and amended it.

At the urging of village board members, two items were put back into the budget before it was voted on. The police department will get a much needed replacement for an old squad car, to the tune of $28,000, and the Fire Department will get $30,000 for a new assistant chief’s vehicle. Mr. Gilbride had pulled both items from the budget.