Dan's Papers - October 31, 2008 - Southampton Town Budget: Like East Hampton, Minus Histrionics

As mandated by New York State law on September 30, Southampton Town Supervisor Linda Kabot submitted her tentative 2009 budget for the Town of Southampton to the clerk. In her first budget proposal as Supervisor, Kabot proposed spending just under $80 million - up 4.3% from the $76.7 million budget of 2008. As is the case for 12 of the 13 towns on Long Island, her new budget for Southampton carries a proposed tax increase of just under the 5% - the capped increase that is legal in Southampton. Kabot has not proposed any salary increases for herself or other top town employees. As listed on the cover page of the budget, her goals are:

1. Ensuring transparency and accountability in government;

2. Controlling government spending;

3. Tackling the deterioration of quality of life in our neighborhoods with stringent code enforcement, as appropriate, and with compassion;

4. Preserving our small town way of life and protecting our environmental and historic resources;

5. Delivering more responsive government to the people and addressing community needs.

Councilman Chris Nuzzi has publicly split with Kabot over some budgetary issues - mostly centering on mandated changes to "green laws" affecting new construction in the town. He plans to go his own way to arrive at a budget for Southampton.

Within her tentative budget proposal, Kabot recommends funding for the police to be at $22 million. It was this area that contributed a big chunk of the $8 million town deficit in the 2008 budget. Oddly, the town escaped many of the charges of fraud and incompetence showered upon East Hampton for its budget shortfall of just about the same amount. The shortfall for the police department in 2008 was estimated to be around $4.3 million. There was also a shortfall of about $2 million in the waste management area. Both of these are being scrutinized.

The supervisor's office has been diligent in stressing how the huge slump in the real estate market has caused difficulty to the town. Due to this situation, which is bound to continue for the foreseeable future, Kabot is proposing a new way of using the unpredictable mortgage tax receipt amounts, aiming those revenues at long range capital projects rather than earmarking them for day to day expenses. To manage the latter, she is recommending reliance on more predictable income streams like the property tax revenues. Also, a decrease in Community Preservation Fund monies, down around $20 million between the record year of 2007 and 2008, (and forecasted to be lower in 2009) will cause the town to lose $1.9 million in the PILOT program (payment in lieu of taxes that affect schools).

Highly critical of her predecessor's strategy of doing almost anything to avoid tax hikes, Kabot is drawing a line in the sand, asserting that it won't happen on her watch. To keep spending down, she is recommending a 2.5% increase in salaries for all town union employees (less than what has been previously agreed upon), as well as for salaried employees. This proposal has not been welcomed in some quarters in the community, including by union officials, who are not thrilled with this proposal. At the public hearings on the tentative budget, many of these issues began to be ironed out as the Supervisor met with each department head about the numbers used in calculating the 2009 budget. There is a feeling of frustration about increased taxes, to go along with the higher cost of living due to rising fuel and food costs, and it seems that everybody but town employees are in fact earning less to pay for these increases. While this may cause ill will, Kabot is poised to deal with the issue. In an e-mail to Dan's Papers, Kabot's aide, Ryan Horn, wrote: "Local governments across Long Island, including the Town of Southampton, have suffered the consequences of the economic slowdown over the past year and a half. This has been particularly true of the real estate market. Local governments depend on subdivision and building permit fees, as well as mortgage and transfer tax money. When these revenue streams dry up; governments resort to tax increases and should focus on cutting costs."

Only time will tell if Horn's boss will follow her aide's advice when the final budget is put to a final vote. Many residents of Southampton hope that Kabot will find areas where, some believe, local tax dollars were wasted, and target those areas for the necessary cuts. Supervisor Kabot reportedly said, when summing up her 2009 budget proposal, that she adheres to the "core principles of smaller government, less taxes, fiscal responsibility, transparency, and being responsive to true community needs."

Reassuring words, but it's time for action designed to meet the needs of the people while not over taxing them.