Budget, Hook Pond Survey
The East Hampton Village Board unanimously adopted a $21.6 million 2017-18 budget at its meeting on Friday. No public comment on it was heard at the meeting, which included the continuation of the June 1 budget hearing. The fiscal year begins on Aug. 1.
Also on Friday, the board learned that the United States Geological Survey has proposed a two-year water quality monitoring program at six locations in Hook Pond, at a total cost of $85,650, designed to help identify needed remediation. The new budget includes an appropriation.
The 2017-18 budget increases spending by $568,986 over the previous year. The tax rate will rise by 1.63 percent, to $29.25 per $100 of assessed value, slightly higher than an initial estimate.
The public hearing had been left open until Friday due to the late receipt of a preliminary estimate of the village’s contribution to the cost of replacing the Town of East Hampton’s emergency communication system. The total village contribution is estimated at around $1.5 million, Rebecca Hansen, the village administrator, said. The capital fund for 2017-18 includes $400,000 of that amount.
The system, used by police, fire departments and ambulance companies, bus drivers, parks and recreation and Highway Department staff, is considered outdated and inadequate. The upgrade will provide new dispatch and backup consoles and radios for emergency, public works, code enforcement, and beach personnel.
Other significant costs in the new budget are health insurance premiums, new vehicles, and capital projects, including work at Village Hall and the house on the Gardiner home lot, which is to become an art museum.
Tax revenue is projected to rise by almost $300,000, to $12.89 million, while non-tax revenue is projected to increase by $270,500, to $8.14 million. Increases in Building Department and Justice Court fees and the mortgage recording tax account for much of the latter figure.
The federal agency had monitored Hook Pond from 2001 to 2008 as part of a larger program in the town and in Southampton, Ms. Hansen said. It will now gather data on chlorophyll, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus in the six locations, which it has identified as “hot spots,” or areas of accumulated sediment.
The U.S.G.S. will also install a telemetry device in the pond that will sample and record the water level and temperature every 15 minutes, she said, similar to a buoy in Georgica Pond. Agency representatives will meet with village officials on a quarterly basis to report on findings and will deliver a final report at the contract’s expiration.
Pio Lombardo, a consultant commissioned by the village in 2015, had pointed to gaps in information about the pond for a number of years, Ms. Hansen said.
Agency representatives will meet with village officials on a quarterly basis to describe their findings and will deliver a final report at the contract’s expiration.
In addition to budgeting for the cost, Ms. Hansen said pond-front property owners had agreed to shoulder a portion, if needed. The agency will start almost immediately, she said, upon approval of the contract.
Board members agreed that the proposal is both sound and timely. “It’s unanimous that we move ahead and codify the agreement as applicable,” Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. said.
The board also agreed to advertise for bids on a roundabout to be constructed at the intersection of Buell and Toilsome Lanes. Bids will be opened on Aug. 15 at 2 p.m. at Village Hall.
In addition, the board approved the Fire Department’s request for a fireworks display on Aug. 26, with a rain date of Aug. 27. The display has been on Labor Day weekend in recent years.