CPF: Borrow From Rich Towns To Give To Poor?

By Tiffany Razzano

Even before it came to light last month that East Hampton Town Supervisor William McGintee had used money from the town's Community Preservation Fund (CPF) for payroll expenses and to pay other bills, meetings of a special task force regarding the efficiency and purpose of the Peconic Bay Region CPF were already underway.

The group of more than 20 representatives of local governments, community organizations and businesses, which first met on Feb. 29, presented their suggestions to Sen. Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson), Assemb. Fred Thiele (R-Sag Harbor) and Assemb. Marc Alessi (D-Wading River) at an April 11 meeting in Westhampton Beach. Having met four times since that initial meeting, they arrived at 17 ideas for tweaking the legislation of the CPF to better define its purpose and to streamline its management.

The CPF was created in 1998, when Albany granted the five East End towns - Southampton, East Hampton, Shelter Island, Southold and Riverhead - the right to add a 2-percent sales tax on all real estate sales, which would go into a fund earmarked for preservation. The $500 million that has since been raised has helped to preserve nearly 10,000 acres of working farms and natural land.

Thiele stressed that the program has produced "overwhelmingly successful" results over the ten years since its inception. "It's one of the most successful land preservation programs in the country," he said, adding that counties nationwide have based their programs on the East End model. "But issues arise. We put this group together to see what ways we can make the CPF operate better. We're going to take this input and try to translate that into a legislative proposal." Thiele said they are working with a strict timeline, though, since any proposed legislation would have to be introduced before the end of the legislative session.

An interesting bit of information that came to light was that, because of the high cost of real estate in Southampton and East Hampton, those towns generated a tremendous amount of money toward the CPF. The group questioned whether money from one town could legally be used in another - the idea being that funds could be transferred to help preserve common areas, such as the Peconic Bay.

Another suggestion was that each town have a rolling, three-year Management and Stewardship Program Plan that would define its objectives and priorities for that time period. Thiele says the management and stewardship plan will add transparency to the preservation process. "[It's] a key thing," he said. The task force also called for regular audits of the fund and documentation to keep track of when the CPF is charged for the salaries and other fringe benefits of town personnel who are not actually CPF staff members.

Calling some of the ideas "bold," LaValle told the task force they have given the legislators a lot to consider, adding that he wanted to move slowly before making any major changes. "We need to see that, at a time when people are looking at their government with jaded eyes, whether we're spending their money in an appropriate way and the best way," he said. "[Are these suggestions] ahead of where we need to be in 2008? Some we could do right away, but I want to make sure 2008 is the appropriate year to do these things."

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