Looking Past Army Corps
The conversation at Monday’s meeting of the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee focused on the fate of Montauk’s beaches and downtown business area, and who would foot the bill for future erosion-control projects.
In an extended question-and-answer session with East Hampton Town Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, the town board’s liaison to the committee, the committee was ready to look beyond the Army Corps of Engineers, whose projects for Montauk have been in the spotlight.
Mr. Van Scoyoc reported that the town had begun thinking about new sources of revenue. State funding, designating some type of coastal stewardship district, or implementing a local excise tax on tourism-related products and services are preliminary ideas, he said.
Ed Braun, chairman of Concerned Citizens of Montauk and of a subcommittee on economic models for Montauk, said that in past years words like “retreat” or “taxation district” were not heard in public.” Now, he said, he has observed those ideas emerge from whispers, especially when it comes to opinions from outside experts.
“As you know, the town budget is very austere now. So if you’re really going to collect the kind of revenue you need to have some sort of project for that, you need to talk about creating an erosion-control district. . . . It may be the discussion of whether or not you broadly tax across the whole town or a more specific, limited district for those who have the most benefit from the cost,” Mr. Van Scoyoc said.
On the idea of an excise tax, Mr. Van Scoyoc said such a tax was “important in a community influenced so heavily by people who don’t live here year round. Resorts, ski towns, they add a tax onto almost anything you can purchase, almost across the board, in order to meet those demands.”
Among others who spoke at the meeting was Janet Van Sickle, who was doubtful of how much help the federal government would be. “Once upon a time, we sort of routinely relied upon federal help to come in and save communities, and that seems to be happening less and less because there’s more and more demand elsewhere. There’s the endless wildfires out West, the flooding. The federal dollar is being asked to go in many directions.”
“It seems like every few months Congress is fighting about shutting down the government. Who knows what is going to happen after the election,” Marcy Waterman said.
The question was raised of how much of the Suffolk County hotel tax money raised in East Hampton Town was returned in the form of services. Mr. Van Scoyoc said it was not much. “That’s a question we’ve been after from the county for decades now. . . . I would suggest that it’s unlikely that we get our fair share back from the county,” he said.
Mr. Braun had a suggestion for town action. “Because consensus is so important and would take some time to build, rather than wait for the courage to come out of these groups and dare to say ‘taxation district’ or ‘additional funding,’ put some models in front of us that come from other communities,” he said. He suggested that the town research what is being done in other communities and come up with four or five possibilities. “Which of these things would fit Montauk?’ I think we should push to get to that point where we see examples of actual funding that would apply.”