Due to a booming real estate market, the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund collected $61.1 million in revenues so far this year, the most for the first seven months of a year in the program's history, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. announced last week.
The preservation fund, which provides money for land preservation, water quality improvement, and the protection of maritime heritage, receives the proceeds of a 2-percent real estate transfer tax. The money goes to the five East End towns: East Hampton, Southampton, Shelter Island, Southold, and Riverhead.
In July, $7.82 million in revenues was collected, a decrease of nearly 9 percent from 2019, but when factoring in all seven months, every town except Southold had increases. Revenues from Southampton Town were $36.47 million, up nearly 40 percent over last year, and East Hampton Town's were $17.26 million, an increase of more than 27 percent. Riverhead's revenues were $2.4 million, up nearly 36 percent, and Shelter Island's were just over $1 million, an increase of more than 17 percent. Southold's $3.95 million in revenues were down nearly 12 percent from 2019.