East Hampton Village’s proposed 2022-23 budget — at just over $25 million — will be the subject of a public hearing tomorrow at 11 a.m.
The budget includes the biggest tax cut in 20 years.
The bulk of village spending goes to salaries, health insurance, and retirement packages for village employees. There is $7.8 million allocated for employee benefits, or roughly a third of the entire budget.
Other large-line items are $1 million for debt service, $225,000 for litigation, $150,000 to maintain the Emergency Services Building, $135,000 for road materials, $100,000 for fire equipment, and $75,000 for street lighting contract services. The $70,000 budgeted for Highway Department overtime costs is higher than usual, as is the $20,000 set aside for “celebrations,” which seems to be in keeping with Mayor Jerry Larsen’s push for community events and engagement.
The largest source of revenue, upward of $14 million, comes from real estate taxes.
The biggest sources of non-tax revenue are beach parking permits ($1.86 million) and providing police, fire, and ambulance services, and emergency dispatching to areas of East Hampton outside of village limits ($2.6 million). “We do 100 percent of the dispatch calls for the Town of East Hampton,” said Marcos Baladron, the village administrator. In addition, the town pays the village “for volunteer fire and ambulance services for certain sections of the Northwest Woods,” he said.
Building permits are another large source of revenue for the village ($1 million) as are the Sea Spray Cottage rentals, which pulled in $1.2 million for the village in the 2021 season.
The board of trustees plans to vote on the budget after the hearing.
