Getting All Set for Summer

The East Hampton Village Board has proposed an operating budget of $22,957,802 for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, an increase of $778,872, or 3.5 percent, from last year. 

The budget includes a property tax levy of 2.73 percent, which falls under the state-mandated cap. A public hearing will be held on the proposal at the board’s June 6 meeting. 

The spending increase, said Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. at Friday’s meeting of the board, is largely due to an estimated 8-percent rise in health insurance premiums, as well as increased Medicare reimbursements and retirement fund contributions. The village’s insurance premiums will also go up as a result of two new policies, cancer benefit coverage for firefighters, and cyber liability coverage. 

In December, village residents approved an increase in the village’s contribution to a pension-like incentive program for volunteer ambulance members. The increase, which went into effect on Jan. 1, raised the benefit from $20 per month for each year of volunteer service to $30 per month.

The proposed budget also includes $220,000 to complete upgrades to the village’s emergency communication system, and funds for capital purchases for the fire department, the ambulance company, and the Department of Public Works.

Proposed funding for road improvements is $100,000, and the same amount has been earmarked for the restoration of the historic Dominy workshops. The village has also allocated money for improving Herrick Park, and for a study of the commercial district. Officials are seeking to hire a firm to develop a plan for sewage treatment, increased parking, and affordable housing.

Mayor Rickenbach said that spending is on par with last year, aside from mandated expenditures such as health care and retirement benefits. He called the outlays for the commercial study and Herrick Park “an investment in the future of the village.” 

In addition to the property tax increase, the village projects additional revenue from raising building department fees, court revenues, and a 5-percent increase in the fire protection contracts with East Hampton Town. 

The board scheduled public hearings on June 6 for two proposed laws, one that would prohibit the use of gas-powered leaf blowers by professional landscapers between June 1 and Labor Day, and one that would require landscapers to obtain licenses annually. Both laws would take effect on Jan. 1, 2020. 

The proposed leaf-blower law includes exceptions for golf courses and municipal properties, as well as for landscapers responding to an emergency or cleaning up after a major storm. Those who violate the summer ban, the law says, would be subject to fines of up to $1,000 per offense. 

The proposed law that seeks to license professional landscapers would require a landscaping business to pay an annual $200 registration fee, agree to abide by the village’s laws governing the use of gas-powered lawn equipment, obtain a valid home improvement license from the Town of East Hampton, and, if applicable, provide proof of state and county certification to use pesticides, other regulated chemicals, or fertilizers.

Once the village administrator determined that a business has met all the requirements, registration stickers would be issued. The stickers, at $10 each, must be placed in a conspicuous location on each vehicle used by the company.

Violations would be punishable by fines, which would increase in amount based on the number of offenses. The village board would have the power to revoke the license of any business that violates the law.

The board authorized a request for proposals for the comprehensive study of the commercial district, and for the purchase of a Pierce Freightliner 3000-gallon Pumper Tanker for the fire department, at a cost of $378,132. 

A hearing on a proposed law authorizing a property tax levy beyond the state-mandated tax cap was held at the meeting. No objections were raised, and the board adopted the measure. 

Timothy Fromm was accepted as a new member of Fire Dept. Company 6, and, in preparation for the summer, the board authorized the employment of seasonal police officers, paramedics, critical emergency medical technicians, traffic control officers and specialists, and beach personnel. 

The board also resolved to accept three gifts to the village. Marion Dailery donated a 1985 watercolor painting by Hugo Melville Fisher, depicting cattle at Georgica Cove with the farmhouse of Sineus Talmage in the background.

Thomas J. Osborne donated an old stone doorstep, five 18th-century board-and-batten doors, an old carpenter’s bench, and a wall of 18th-century paneling. 

Dafydd C. Corbett-Kelsall donated a six-board seaman’s chest made by Nathaniel Dominy V in the early 19th century.

At the end of the meeting, Gerald Turza Jr., the chief of the East Hampton Fire Department, thanked the board and Becky Molinaro Hansen, the village administrator, for the purchase of the new tanker, and for their commitment to the fire department. “We’re experiencing a period of unprecedented growth and development in fire service,” he said.