At the beginning of each Sag Harbor Village Board meeting, the trustees do a rundown of committee reports that paint a picture of what goes on in the municipality to keep it running. The numbers tell the story of the village, from the tally of parking infractions to the millions of gallons of sewage that move beneath the streets. The trustees’ late-September review of the reports from June, July, and August illuminated the intense pace of the commercial district this summer.
Trustee Aidan Corish is regularly in charge of three of these reports: one on the zoning board of appeals, another on village grants, and a third that keeps the board informed on the state of the sewers, via a monthly update from the Sag Harbor Wastewater Treatment Plant. The wastewater plant has been in operation since 1975 and, during a phone call last Wednesday, Mr. Corish characterized it as an “unsung hero” of the village. The plant used four out of the five available basins, where sewage is collected, this summer, he said. More than 100,000 gallons of hard sludge were removed.
Anyone who tried to walk, or drive, through Sag Harbor on a weekend in August recognized that August was the height of the busy season, and the sewage-plant numbers bear out that impression. In June, the plant received approximately 2.6 million gallons of wastewater; in July, 3.4 million gallons, and in August, 3.5 million gallons. Additionally, in June, the plant removed around 17,000 gallons of sludge; in July, 40,900 gallons, and in August, 45,000 gallons.
Water consumption and sewage flow increased markedly year over year, as well. According to Dee Yardley, the village’s superintendent of public works, the wastewater plant treated an estimated “800,000 to 1,000,000 more gallons” in 2024 than it did in 2023. According to the monthly performance reports, the plant received only 3,089,000 gallons in July 2023 (or about 400,000 fewer than this July) and 3,177,000 in August 2023 (more than 300,000 fewer than this August). “It’s a pretty good indication of how busy town is,” Mr. Corish said, “Ninety to 95 percent of what comes into the plant is from the commercial district.”
Another gauge of how busy the village was this summer is the revenue of Sag Harbor Village Justice Court. Deputy Mayor Ed Haye regularly reports to the board on the numbers coming out of the court, as well as from parks and open spaces and the planning board. While not all of the revenue of the justice court comes from parking violations, a majority of it does. In fact, as of June, there had already been more traffic violations for the year so far than there were for the entire year of 2022 or 2021.
In June, the justice court’s revenue over all was $62,156; in July, $148,915, and in August, $192,924. In a conversation by phone last Tuesday, Mr. Haye noted that several streams contribute to the court’s revenue, but that the efforts of the village’s traffic control officers drive the bulk of it. The village employed a larger contingent of T.C.O.s this year and Mr. Haye said that the increase in staffing had had a positive effect: “Those T.C.O.s are important for parking and traffic flow,” he said. “They make sure there’s access to the village.”
The court’s income from summer brings its year-to-date revenue to just under half a million dollars: $499,678.50, before state and federal taxes are taken into account. This revenue has already surpassed the gross revenue for 2022, which was $488,555.58, and it is close to surpassing the gross for 2023 as well, $519,569.
The village board does not use the trends in numbers over time as an exact road map for the future, in terms of budgeting or allocation of assets. But, board members said, the figures are useful when planning for the long term.
“The numbers are just indicators, they’re not conclusive,” Mr. Haye said. “When we ask a question, they can show us where to look for answers.”
