Shelter Island Town Board adopts 2013 budget

After more than six weeks looking for cuts and savings, the Town Board adopted a 2013 budget on Tuesday increasing the amount to be raised by property taxes by 3 percent, almost a percentage point less than the amount on which the board had settled last week. With a credit the town can carry forward from its 2012 budget, which hiked the tax rate 1.1 percent, the 2013 spending plan is technically in compliance with the state’s 2-percent cap on annual property tax increases, according to Supervisor Jim Dougherty.

Unexpectedly low bids for an erosion control project planned for the Second Causeway next year allowed the town to reduce its overall expenditures, Supervisor Dougherty said on Tuesday, when the board adopted the budget at a special meeting. The savings also allowed the board to slash the amount to be used from its reserves to balance the budget to $496,700 from the $786,700 the board had settled on earlier this month.

A budget summary sheet shows total expenditures for 2013 of $9,868,078, down $849,999 or nearly 8 percent from the previous draft’s $10,718,077 and $514,585 or almost 5 percent less than was budgeted for 2012. But non-property tax revenues for 2013 are predicted to be $2,433,170, down $872,573 or 26 percent less than in 2012.