Village Taxes Drop a Bit

With no public comment save for a plea that future deer-management efforts be more humane than recent practices, the East Hampton Village Board adopted a 2016-17 budget at its meeting on Friday. The fiscal year begins on Aug. 1.

The $21.06 million budget represents a slight spending increase of $382,000 over the previous year. The increase, Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. told the board last month, was largely due to health insurance premiums, replacement of the village’s aging infrastructure, and capital projects including work at Village Hall and the Gardiner House. Lower contributions to the state retirement system kept the increase to a minimum, as did lower fuel and utility costs, and equipment purchases made during the current fiscal year.

Property tax revenue is projected to increase by almost $150,000, with license and permit fees up by an additional $80,000. The adopted budget includes a tax rate reduction of .58 percent, to $28.78 per $100 of assessed value. 

“On behalf of the board, we’d like to thank the office of the village administrator, and the various department heads who worked very closely, that brought this vehicle to a public hearing this morning,” Mayor Rickenbach said as the budget was unanimously adopted. 

Bill Crain of the East Hampton Group for Wildlife offered the only public comment on the budget, which, as in the previous year, includes $50,000 for deer management. For the last two years, the village has hired White Buffalo, a Connecticut nonprofit organization, to sterilize deer, in a program that has drawn criticism from both animal rights activists and hunters.

Last year, several does birthed stillborn fawns before dying in what some witnesses called gruesome circumstances. White Buffalo’s procedures were criticized for being performed in a non-sterile environment, as was the deer’s prompt release into sometimes harsh weather conditions. The village’s deer-management efforts, however, have also drawn backing, including financial support, from residents and groups, including the Village Preservation Society.

Mayor Rickenbach told Mr. Crain he would be included in the discussion once a determination, “or some clearer path that the village board will take,” is reached. “But let’s not forget, Bill,” he continued, that deer represent “a public health problem, a public nuisance problem, and a quality-of-life problem.” Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, deer-vehicle collisions, and destruction of landscaping and forest understory have been cited as cause to reduce the herd.

Mr. Crain said that, while the wildlife group would never question the board’s concern for public health, “we feel that White Buffalo, who you hired before, just botched the job so badly.” Had they been operating on humans, he said, “they would be sent up for a malpractice suit.”

Despite reports to the contrary, he continued, “Researchers have not found a correlation between deer population size and Lyme disease, probably because the ticks can jump on other hosts. If you reduce the number of deer, they still can get on raccoons, dogs, cats, birds — all kinds of other hosts.”

The white-footed mouse, he said, is a primary host. “If you can get traps, do various things to remove the ticks from the white-footed mouse, that is much more effective.” He also asked for a count of the herd, and suggested immunocontraception as “the most humane, least invasive method” of controlling it.

The board, Mayor Rickenbach said, “recognizes your deep passion on the subject. As the future unfolds, we will have that continuing dialogue.”