Property Taxes to Drop in Southampton
Jay Schneiderman has completed his first proposed Southampton Town budget since becoming supervisor, a $94.7 million operating budget for 2017 that falls below the allowed 1-percent cap. The budget calls for a 1.6-percent reduction in the property tax rate, the largest tax rate reduction in recent history, despite a 3.9-percent increase in spending over the current year.
“We went back 10 years, there wasn’t anything like it,” Mr. Schneiderman said as he presented the spending plan to the town board last Thursday.
While the supervisor is looking to raise the budget by $3.6 million next year, the tax rate will go down due to a $5 billion increase in assessed valuation, according to Leonard J. Marchese, the town comptroller, who crafted the budget with Mr. Schneiderman. As of May, the assessed valuation townwide increased to roughly $60 billion due to new houses or the increased value in others, he said.
The proposed budget offers $3.2 million for road and highway infrastructure improvements. Also, there is $1.4 million for improvements to the beaches and park facilities, and $1.3 million for upgrades to the emergency services networks. There is $1 million set aside to upgrade the town’s fueling facilities, which the supervisor said are “aging out,” and $1 million for various land management studies, including supporting the Riverside Revitalization Action Plan.
Included in the supervisor’s budget is the consolidation of code enforcement, animal control, and emergency preparedness into a newly formed division of public safety. The Code Enforcement Department reports to the town attorney’s office, but there is no head of code enforcement. East Hampton Town saw a similar consolidation under Supervisor Bill Wilkinson. “I would like there to be a director of public safety that would oversee that code enforcement unit,” Mr. Schneiderman said. In addition to that position, he budgeted for an additional part-time code enforcement officer.
To address Southampton’s “crisis in terms of housing availability,” he proposed the creation of the office of housing and community development, which he said most other towns have. The housing authority manages the federal Section 8 program, but the new office, in a division under land management, would oversee housing registries, lotteries, buyer-benefit programs, and grants. The new office would work with an accessory apartment amendment he will propose in the coming months.
Under his proposed budget, he will increase the number of town employees by 7 to 518. The figure is still a far cry from the 554 people employed by the town in 2008. The additional positions include a police officer and public safety dispatcher — paid for with the more than $300,000 in extra sales tax money from the county for which Mr. Schneiderman negotiated — and the part-time code enforcement officers and director of public safety. Also, two parks maintenance mechanics would be added. He said there are not enough personnel and with the addition of Good Ground Park, “it wouldn’t be fair to the residents of Hampton Bays not to provide adequate funding for this park.”
A capital budget of $9.3 million is also proposed. East of the Shinnecock Canal, that budget calls for installing new restrooms and a lifeguard office at Scott Cameron Beach in Bridgehampton, where the current modular restrooms and office are “falling apart as they cannot withstand the elements of the ocean beach,” the proposal said. Also, the bridge on Job’s Lane will be replaced. The work at the Bridgehampton Community Center will continue, with the next phase being the replacement of plumbing, flooring, and fixtures in the restrooms.
For the additional capital expenditures, Mr. Schneiderman proposed the town borrow $8 million. The rest will be raised through state aid or grants, Mr. Marchese said. Even so, the town is reducing the overall debt by $7 million.
About $2.6 million was appropriated from the fund balance, but the town will still have $30.4 million, more than 30 percent, in surplus for 2017, Mr. Schneiderman said, adding that the surplus is much of the reason why the town has its AAA credit rating.
Work sessions on the budget are slated for Oct. 6 and Oct. 20. The first hearing on the budget will be held on Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. at a town board meeting that will be held at the Hampton Bays Senior Center. Another will be held at Town Hall on Nov. 9 at 1 p.m. By state law, the budget must be adopted by Nov. 20.