Causeway shock

To the Editor:

Anyone driving across First Causeway last week got a shock. The vegetation buffering the new house from the road was clear cut, reportedly to make room for cesspools and a driveway. This may be permitted but it’s not a good result. If you haven’t seen the project recently, go take a look.

Hopefully the town’s proposed new causeway regulations will not authorize similar land use on the remaining fragile causeway areas.

KIM NOLAND, Shelter Island

Incorrect figure cited 

To the Editor:

I was very dismayed when I read the Shelter Island Reporter’s version of the budget discussion regarding Taylor’s Island. I am not sure whether the misrepresentations in the article are Mr. Hammond’s or Mr. Boody’s but I wish to correct the misinformation. The Taylor’s Island budget allocation for 2011 was $26,500, not the $22,000 as claimed. And, in fact, I requested the board to hold the line on the $26,500 figure — not $22,000.

Whoever was present at the budget hearing should have been aware that the 2011 budget numbers presented to the Town Board members did not represent the actual numbers in our existing 2011 budget. The line item for the kayak landing was “missing.” In my discussion with the board, I specifically requested a clarification, which was verified by Ms. Ogar, Town Clerk, regarding the monies allocated. Why the line item for kayak landing repairs in 2011 was not represented in the budget does raise questions as to the accuracy of the budget as presented but the article’s assessment that our budget is “higher than this year’s but lower than the requested amount” is an inaccuracy. It is lower than last year’s and is lower than the requested amount.

Taylor’s Island is a town property managed by the Taylor’s Island Management and Preservation Committee. The Smith-Taylor Cabin is listed both on the National and New York State Registers of Historic Places and is part of the Coecles Harbor Water Trail. Over the years, the town and the Taylor’s Island Foundation have worked in tandem to protect this precious parcel and make it available for the public’s enjoyment.

Over the last three years, with a combination of funding from the town and the foundation, the bulkheads have been replaced and repaired to protect the Island from further erosion. This year, 2011, we are in the process of completing the kayak landing as part of a DEC permit and replacing docks that are unstable and a safety hazard. Next year, major restoration work starts on the Smith-Taylor Cabin, most of which will be paid for by New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Grant and foundation funding. Committee members have volunteered to administer the grant, which saves an estimated $11,000 that would have gone to an outside grant contractor. Any town monies in our budget that go toward grant-related projects will be matched by the foundation and are eligible for 50-percent reimbursement by the state. This is a good investment.

Committee and foundation members, with the help of many volunteers, maintain the island. We mow our own lawns, do our own plantings, replace decking and roofs, complete minor (and some major) repairs, give free docent tours and more.

We thank the community for their ongoing support. In the past, we’ve spent any and all budgeted money from the town very prudently and only on necessary items. Our proposed 2012 budget from the town, like most committee budgets, is less, not more.

KATHLEEN GOODING, Taylor’s Island Management and Preservation Committee

We used the number listed for 2011 in the budget document for comparison, failing to make the connection that it was in error. — Ed.

Reporting inaccuracies

To the Editor:

I was copied on Kathy Gooding’s Taylor’s Island letter to the Reporter and concur in her concerns about the reporting inaccuracies on budget discussions. I would have to write a four-page letter each week correcting the record and I simply don’t have the time nor the inclination.

Blasting through all the gotchas and mis-statements (i.e. page 8: Councilmen Waddington, Reich and Brown saying the Town Budget is going up 8 to 10 percent next year), let me, as your chief financial officer set the record straight: It ain’t gonna happen.

So while spending your days reading about such minutia as my outrageous suggested cut in a line in the assessor’s preliminary budget “from $2,500 to $1,750” etc., take a minute to absorb this: An initial but solid calculation from our financial consultant, Jenn Ditta, done this week, predicts that the town’s general fund reserves (our “rainy day fund”) as of the end of this year will be an estimated $2,220,000, about 21 percent of our town budget (conservative rule of thumb is reserves should be 10 percent of a town’s budget. For the past three years, we’ve been by far the most conservative town on Long Island re: keeping reserves high). In this dismal economy, this is an estimated increase of at least $125,000 during 2011, an extraordinary accomplishment. This is the result of line by line, dime by dime leadership in not only beating the budget on expenses but also in generating extra revenues wherever we could find them.

Supplementing my efforts in achieving this result have been above-and-beyond efforts by Chief Jim Read and Superintendent Mark Ketcham in finding extra revenue sources and cutting costs where they can and I salute them.

Speaking of budget expenses and our grim economy, what’s wrong with me suggesting to department heads in the initial round of preliminary budget discussions that we flat-line compensation? (I have pledged to avoid layoffs, if town employees agree to stay lean and mean.) Many department heads volunteered this. Obviously the notion upset the assessor. While on the subject of compensation, the newspaper article on the October 5 debate at the Presbyterian Church curiously omitted my pledge not to raise my compensation during the next two years and calling on my two opponents to make the same pledge. My request was met by a deafening silence, by the way.

As a matter of fact, I haven’t taken an increase since taking office in January 2008 and turned in the town vehicle, with attendant gas privileges, that my predecessor had used during his term. We’re in tough times and, please, in selecting your town leaders, don’t go with the party-hearty clan. They’re ready to resume the party and it’s with your money.

JIM DOUGHERTY

Supervisor, Town of Shelter Island

Mr. Dougherty is a candidate for re-election. — Ed.

Misses the point

To the Editor:

Your October 6, 2011 front-page headline (“Dougherty calls for 1.2-percent rise in spending, taxes”) misses the point. If this headline ran in any decade from the 1960s, Supervisor Dougherty and the Town Board would be nominated for a medal as a shining example of fiscal austerity. It is unfortunate you couldn’t wait for the final expenditure total due on November 20 before reaching this conclusion.

As everyone can see from their bank statements and insurance bills, these are not normal times as our generation understands it. We need to go back several generations before we see a time when depositors had to pay banks for keeping their savings or a time when taxpayers had to swallow the equivalent of today’s “mandates” and “entitlements.”

When interest rates turn negative and tax payments become a burden, government will thrash and wail and do almost anything to stay alive. Eventually, the market for government or, in other words, the balance between what the government needs and the ability for the taxpayer to meet those needs will stabilize. It will be painful. If Supervisor Dougherty offered a plan to reduce tax receipts by 7 percent, that would be worth a medal. Any candidate for public office had better understand the future is not necessarily the way all of us were raised.

JOHN T. COLBY JR. , Shelter Island

Cause for concern

To the Editor:

Watching the budget process unfold, I have to wonder how Jim’s forecast 1.2-percent increase is going to hold up, given that it appears to have been based on some rather fantastic assumptions, not the least of which was that some departments were going to be tolerant of outright raids on their individual budget proposals, which were largely steady, year after year.

Then there is the ambulance corps. Initial cost projections were wildly off target, that is certain, and I have to wonder aloud how that could be, given that this thing was in the works, albeit secretly, for six months or more before being made public. What were they talking about, if not costs and replacement of leadership?

The more I think about it, the more I think the ambulance corps operation, in its entirety, needs be moved as far from Town Hall as possible, in order to avoid it morphing, first in the eyes of the public, and then in fact, from a largely donation-funded, volunteer-based organization into one associated with government and hence taxation. Think Fire Department. The Fire Department has strong volunteer-brand recognition here, a well-organized and accepted fundraising presence in the community and it seems an obvious marriage, albeit not one born of love but of pragmatism.

When I asked about a copy of the proposed budget I was told there was one left, for $37.50 or some such. I remember wondering how much a copy would cost if it actually contained the real numbers … probably a lot more, right? Then I figured I already paid for its being made once and will pay for the revision process, as well as the inevitable outcome. Why beat the hell out of myself with this thing? So I didn’t buy it. You probably shouldn’t either.

PAUL SHEPHERD, Shelter Island

Mr. Shepherd is a candidate for a seat on the Town Board. — Ed. 

4-posters and budget

To the Editor:

It was sad to see Karin Bennett struggle with the Senior Center budget, trying to make ends meet, at the October 13 town budget discussion. The council members were scrutinizing with a magnifying glass, $1,000 here, $500 there, and so forth. At the same time, I was impressed with her professionalism in handling her budget items. I used to bring my dad to the Senior Center and, from my past experience, she does a great job with all the people who go there and she was extremely nice to my dad. The Senior Center serves quite a number of citizens on the Island, in quite a variety of ways.

It was doubly sad to see Patty Shillingburg, from the Deer and Tick Committee, swallow up precious reserves from the budget by more than doubling the 4-poster budget from $65,000 to $150,000 a year. We are not talking about the small items that Karin Bennett had to defend to the supervisor, who said to Karin, “Shelter Island is living in a bubble if you think we can just keep increasing the budget like this without layoffs. It won’t work, it just won’t work.”

I did not see this same tough approach being applied to Patty Shillingburg and her list of theoretical claims in her argument, which is supported by very weak research. Ms. Shillingburg claims that, for the past several years, the 4-posters have been eradicating ticks, with the goal of a tick-free Island via the 4-posters. This is not just an illusion — it is a delusional concept. It will never happen. The incidence of Lyme disease is not down. I don’t know where that data came from, since, for the last three years, I was told I cannot use Suffolk County Health Department statistics on Lyme disease because they under-reported. Why would the Suffolk County Health Department under-report the incidence of Lyme disease?

She claims that hunters need not worry about the deer meat being contaminated because the 4-posters are not out during the hunting season because they are pulled out of the field by December 15. Hunting season commences October 1 and ends December 31.

There are too many unsustainable facts for her and the supervisor to cover. The town government, for the most part, has ignored facts from outside reputable sources and laboratories that refute Cornell’s claims in regard to the doomed 4-poster experiment. As a result, the Coalition for Sustainable Fish and Wildlife Habitat will be conducting tissue sample tests of the deer this fall. We need accountability in our town government and we need a government that listens to its citizens, especially when it comes to this issue.

I have seen decisions made and legislation passed that had no support from the people. I urge you to vote “Yes” for the two-year term on November 8, which will be on the flip-side of your ballot. This is an historic opportunity for the people of Shelter Island to change the town council from a four-year duration to a two-year seat.

Remember: This is not a “term limit.” It gives you, the voter, a vote every two years instead of every four.

RICHARD KELLY, President, The Coalition For Sustainable Fish And Wildlife Habitat, Shelter Island

Questions

To the Editor:

An article in Newsday described the actions of Mr. Wayne Vitale, formerly a trustee of the Center Moriches School Board, who was hired by the Shelter Island Board of Education as the “new Business Leader,” per your short paragraph in the October 13 issue of the Reporter.

It causes a bit of concern to learn that Mr. Vitale, a former insurance agent, resigned from his prior position “after insurance issues.” He apparently could have earned a sizeable commission by switching health insurance coverage for the district’s teachers. Although the move might have saved a very substantial sum, it was voted down by the teachers and there was no commission earned.

One wonders, nevertheless, if this matter was discussed before Mr. Vitale was hired by our Board of Education and if there is any possibility of a future occasion where this conflict of interest/question of ethics might again surface?

BARBARA ALLEN-LIEBLEIN, Shelter Island

See story in this week’s issue on page 12 — Ed.

4-poster article

To the Editor:

The article by Elizabeth Laytin about the 4-posters in your paper yesterday was excellent. A few years ago, members of the Nantucket Tick Borne Disease Committee were sent to Shelter Island by the board of selectmen to see how the Cornell project was going. We had a very constructive and instructive review of the issues surrounding the reduction of deer ticks on Shelter Island.

After we returned to Nantucket, I called one of the local Shelter Island physicians. He felt the most constructive aspect of the project was that, with the presence of 4-posters, people were more aware of ticks. Clinic visits for tick bites and early Lyme disease increased; as patients were seen earlier, treatment was more successful. In addition, the physician proffered that the deer population over the winter appeared healthier with the corn of the 4-posters available.

TRISTRAM C. DAMMIN, M.D., Nantucket

Two-year term

To the Editor:

In the early 1980s, I helped cover the war in El Salvador for NBC News. I was there on election day in San Salvador when citizens ran through machine gun fire to get to the polls to vote. Candidates were threatened, some assassinated by death squads. In more recent times, we’ve seen similar circumstances in Iraq. Thousands around the world now vie for democracy; thousands of U.S. troops are deployed to help bring democracy to them. Thousands have died in this process. Elections are the most essential part of any democracy.

So when members of the Town Board state that having an election here every two years for councilpersons (instead of the current four years) is an inconvenience that distracts them from their work, I think that they don’t appreciated what an “inconvenient” election is. They forget that they are running a democratic government, not a business. One new candidate for Town Board stated that he would not bother to run for the office if he had to be reviewed and re-elected by the citizens here every two years. Elected office is not a civil service job. You are doing a true public service as per the will of the people.

Another argument is a big “what if” all four board members and the supervisor were voted out of office at the same time. And the most important person, the Town Clerk leaves too. This is simply a scare tactic. It is a scenario that is unlikely to ever happen. If it did, it would be because we, the voters, decided to do it.

If a pending election causes our officials to reduce the budget and keep our taxes low, then we should have an election every year. The current projected 1.2-percent 2012 budget increase proves this point. However a recent Reporter editorial showed that Supervisor Dougherty’s budget numbers don’t quite add up. Would Mr. Dougherty give us a low ball budget number before election and another (higher) number after the election? That would be outrageously deceptive. But he did learn how to do math during his years on Wall Street and in the corporate board room. Luckily, elections for the supervisor’s office are every two years.

Elections should be more often than not. It will reaffirm that an elected official is honest and on the right track, or rid us of an “empty suit.” On November 8, please vote to enact two-year terms for all Town Board members. Most importantly, vote! It will be a vote for a better government and a better Shelter Island.

VINCENT NOVAK, Shelter Island

Great meals 

To the Editor:

I am so impressed with the dinners provided by the Meals on Wheels program that I have been enjoying since my recent fall that I wanted to write and thank Karin Bennett and her crew. Not only is the food healthy and nutritious but it is also of the highest quality and variety. And that’s not an easy job to do three days a week.

It is also such a cheer-up when one is feeling ill or smashed up as I have been recently to have one of these charming people who volunteer to deliver the meals arrive at the door with another attractive dinner that I don’t have to cook!

This is just another great service that we on Shelter Island are treated to when needed and I do want to pass on my gratitude to Karin and her team. I don’t think we always realize how lucky we are to live on this Island, where people still have the old-fashioned attitude of looking out for one another, even in this very high-tech age.

HILARY S-C. KING, Shelter Island

Dear friend

To the Editor,

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the community of Shelter Island, those coworkers, neighbors, friends, acquaintances and even kind strangers who make up your community, those generous souls whom I have had the fortune to meet and observe their compassionate acts of giving and support.

My friend Teresa Montant is suffering from cancer and daily I witness the generosity and giving of your community. I grew up with Teresa; roller skated with Teresa, suffered through fifth-grade ballet with Teresa, hiked mountains and explored ruins with Teresa and now I watch helplessly as she battles cancer.

Yet, in her battle, I do understand she is not alone but surrounded by an army of a ctommunity that is and will continue to be at her side. I thank you from the bottom of this young girl’s — in an aging world — heart. May all of you be blessed with a friend so dear as mine.

MARGARET MEISTER, Tubac, Arizona