Preservation Fund Swells

    Contributions to the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund, from a 2-percent real estate transfer tax on most land sales, for last month are up from April, 2011, totaling $6.1 million this year versus $5 million last year.

“Hopefully, this is an indication that we are entering a robust period for real estate sales,” New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. said in a press release this week.

    The number of real estate transactions for the first quarter of 2012 was 1,927, compared to 1,835 a year ago, Mr. Thiele reported. The sales generated a total of $16.6 million for the five East End towns that have established the fund — East Hampton, Southampton, Riverhead, Shelter Island, and Southold. Last year’s first-quarter revenue was $17.6 million.

    In East Hampton Town, the first-quarter income for the land-purchase fund was up 38 percent over last year, for a total of just over $5 million. The other towns saw a decrease for the period over last year.