Budget Includes Paid First Responders
The East Hampton Village Board plans to adopt its proposed 2015-16 $20.53 million budget at a meeting on Friday, June 19, after having held a public hearing on it last Thursday at which no member of the public spoke. Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. and Becky Molinaro, the village administrator, had offered a few comments before the hearing was closed.
The spending plan represents an increase of 1.1 percent. The tax rate, at $28 per $100 of assessed value, will not change, and the village will collect nearly $12.36 million in taxes in the next fiscal year, an increase of $87,232, or .7 percent.
The budget includes money to extend paid emergency medical services so that a “first responder” can be on hand around the clock seven days a week. Next year, ambulance expenses would jump from $315,000 to $443,000.
The budget also includes money to match a Suffolk County grant for a stormwater abatement project in the Hook Pond watershed, details of which were unveiled at a May 30 meeting. Other proposed capital projects include the purchase of equipment for the Department of Public Works and roof repair at the Sea Spray Cottages at Main Beach, which are a significant source of income for the village. The village is also to the set aside additional reserves for future Fire Department and ambulance purchases.
Mayor Rickenbach’s salary of $25,000, and the $15,500 salary of the deputy mayor, Barbara Borsack, are unchanged in the fiscal plan. “But included in this operating budget,” the mayor said, are “certain salary increases for personnel, some by contractual agreement, others by way of internal discussion. We feel we’re taking care of all our infrastructure requirements, as related to the Police Department, highway, beaches and trying to put as much money as we achieve by way of taxation and ancillary sources back into the operation of our village.”
The board also discussed the May 30 presentation by Pio Lombardo of Lombardo Associates, the firm conducting water quality studies for the town and village. Mr. Lombardo’s report, Ms. Molinaro said, laid out recommended actions to improve the water quality of Hook Pond as well as Town Pond, both of which it characterized as poor.
Rain gardens, which can be engineered to maximize nitrogen and phosphorus removal, are recommended in five locations at a cumulative cost of almost $1.4 million. A stormwater pumping and treatment demonstration project proposed for the Gardiner home lot on James Lane, which the town acquired last year, would cost $162,400.
These projects potentially qualify for a grant of up to 90 percent from the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation’s Green Innovation Grant Program. The village is expected to submit a letter of intent by Monday in order to apply for the grant.
Studies to determine the feasibility of sediment removal from Town Pond, and wastewater management systems for properties near North Main and Cedar Streets, and along Egypt Lane between Dunemere and Hither Lanes, are also planned. The design and construction of these systems would be eligible for 50 to 60-percent grants from the county and/or state.