East End: Officials Breathe Easier
A delegation of East End officials appears to have succeeded Friday in persuading Suffolk Executive Robert J. Gaffney to restore their portion of sales tax revenue-sharing for police services to his 1998 county budget.
Mr. Gaffney said after the meeting, which was attended by County Legislator George O. Guldi and East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., among others, that he would support a budget amendment to restore the program for the East End. Mr. Guldi will prepare the amendment.
The five East End towns and 15 villages had stood to lose some $2.1 million because of the proposed cuts. To make up for that money, the municipalities would have had to raise taxes.
Avert Tax Increase
East Hampton Town expects to re ceive $200,000 from the county un der police revenue-sharing next year. The elimination of the funds would have meant a tax increase, outside East Hampton Village, of $11.90 for the average homeowner, Michael Ha ran, the town budget officer, said yesterday.
Southampton Town stood to lose a total of $500,000. In Riverhead Town, which will get $350,000 in revenue-sharing under the program, a proposed 4.6-percent tax cut would have been virtually wiped out by Mr. Gaffney's proposal.
Riverhead Supervisor James Stark said after Friday's meeting that Mr. Gaffney had apparently not appreciated the impact of his proposed cuts.
The East End officials stressed to the County Executive that their proposed 1998 budgets included the revenue-sharing funds, and that they had been given no notice the money might not be forthcoming.
Police Services
In 1993, the county designated one-eighth of a penny of sales taxes for police services, though the East End, which has had its own town and village police departments since 1960, received only a portion of that percentage.
Most of the money goes to the County Police Department, which provides all police services in western Suffolk but only specialized services on request to the East End.
Although "in fact a quarter of the sales tax collected countywide comes from the East End," according to Mr. Guldi, the region has received far less in revenue-sharing, based on its having 10 percent of the population of western Suffolk.
In Attendance
The discrepancy, long a bone of contention, meant the East End has been "getting partially screwed," said Mr. Guldi, who was not a member of the 1993 Legislature that established the arrangement.
However, under Mr. Gaffney's proposed cuts, the East End would be "getting totally screwed," Mr. Guldi said: "There would be no money going to the East End under this program. Period."
Also present at Friday's meeting were Southampton Town Supervisor Vincent Cannuscio and Southold Town Supervisor Jean Cochran. Mayor Rickenbach represented the Suffolk County Village Officials Association, of which he is president, as well as East Hampton Village.
East Hampton Town Supervisor Cathy Lester did not attend. She was at The Star at the time, taking part in a campaign interview with her opponent for Supervisor, Tom Knobel.
Now The Good News
Mr. Gaffney's $1.7 billion budget otherwise provides good fiscal news for East Enders: a 21-percent "average" cut in county taxes.
In East Hampton Town, the proposed cut would be the second highest for an East End town, according to the County Executive's office - an average of $57, reflecting a reduction from a median of $274 this year to $217 next.
Southampton Town residents will save even more: $59, for a total county tax bill of $195.
For the East End as a whole, the median county tax bill is expected to be $181. K.G./I.S.