Dan's Papers - October 10, 2008 - A Deliberate Look At EH's Tentative Budget

While Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill once addressed Parliament about a new budget, holding up an enormous document over three feet thick and saying "By its very weight it has insured that it will never be read."

That will not be the case of the many pages of the much anticipated 2009 Tentative Budget for the Town of East Hampton that Supervisor Bill McGintee released on September 30. After all the controversy about the huge shortfalls in 2008, with a deficit estimated to be between $8-9 million, the cover sheet of the new document proclaims, "Total appropriations have been reduced by $7,900,000."

The document predicts $48,730,156.23 as the total amount to be raised by taxes. The new tax rate outside the village will be 18.756%; in the village the increase will be 28.743%. Yet homeowners outside of the village who were paying $5,000 in taxes in 2008 will see an increase of just $219.20. Even though the village rate seems higher, the increase for a home assessed at that same rate in the village will be $145.40. With the essentials itemized by each department, many costs occurred in 2008 are projected as $00.00 for 2009. For example, $5,000 remains in the 2009 budget for fireworks in Montauk, the same as it was in 2008. But the Concert in the Park allocation of $5,000 that the Montauk Chamber of Commerce received in 2008 has been removed for 2009.

Part of the new budget is a proposal to raise an additional $500,000 from three sources: fees at the landfill, fees at the justice court, and new fees for resident beach stickers. Also it is noted that 15 town employees have been eliminated from the payroll, and three new entry level employees were added for another savings of $500,000. Another sobering line in the cover page sums up the spirit of how the budget was calculated: "These cost cutting measures have been offset by a greater reduction in revenues of $16,589,109 resulting from decreased mortgage tax, decreased funding in other areas and adjustments to accurately reflect our revenue sources." What this means is the bad economy has cost the town over $16 million in revenues.

So what are the cost cutting measures? The supervisor's office pointed out cuts in programs like "Project Most," which extends the day in East Hampton public schools. Lynn Ryan, McGintee's chief aide, said it overlapped with another after-school day care program. Grants to non-profits were slashed from $45,000 to $15,000. Grants to PTAs and the local Chambers of Commerce were reduced noticeably.

Ryan also believes savings will be gained through the departure of eight town police officers, who left the force of their own accord and are being replaced by eight at the entry level.

Concerning the town's employee health care cost, Ryan announced an agreement between the union and the town to remain connected to the Island Group Agency, with Alan Kaplan vowing to make the town's health care saving equal to what it would be if the town had contracted with the Empire State Plan. Savings to the town are estimated conservatively at $1.5 million, up to perhaps $4 million. Reports of a Canadian Plan are out the window. The budget states Employee Benefits - which include workers compensation, social security, medicare, unemployment insurance, health insurance, dental, optical and NYS Retirement - had the adopted 2008 budget number at $9,205,000 and the proposed 2009 budget number at $5,905,500.

It was stressed that these were simply tentative proposals for spending that would be addressed in the open town board meetings. There will certainly be changes as board members weigh in on where they think cuts should and shouldn't be made. However, it may be some comfort to know that the Fort Hill Cemetery budget has been cut from $46,800 in 2008 to $46,100 for 2009. The budget for other cemeteries that the Town's Park Department maintains has been cut by 1/3 - from $6,100 to $4,100. One area where there is an increase is Senior/Handicapped Transportation, which went up from $408,144.60 in 2008 to $433,496.18 in 2009. Larry Penny's Department of Natural Resources has a minuscule $136 cut after all the controversy, with a 2008 number of $571,837.50 as opposed to the proposed 2009 number being $517,701.99. This, with a reduction of salaries of just over $20,000.

When the process is over, the actual total budget can range from just over $50 million to just under $70 million, depending on what the town board decides to adopt, add and somehow fund. A helpful proposal from the state was to raise the fine on all moving traffic violations an additional $50 to go directly to the towns. This will be welcomed income. The 2009 Budget process has begun. Everyone in town is watching.