Thiele optimistic though Island lags on CPF funds
Shelter Island is lagging in revenues from the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund based on first quarter numbers released by Assemblyman Fred Thiele Jr. (I-Sag Harbor).Nonetheless, the overall revenues for the five East End towns are showing a 3.5 percent increase for the first quarter of 2015 as compared with the same period of 2014. But only Southold and East Hampton are reporting positive numbers.
Shelter Island, which collected $520,000 in 2014, is weighing in at $410,000 for the first quarter of 2015, a 21.2 percent decline.
Despite lagging all of last year until the fourth quarter, Shelter Island did pick up in the fourth quarter just as real estate professionals predicted it would. Throughout 2014, they maintained deals were in the pipeline, but had been slow to close.
By early 2015, they were concerned not about the pace of closings, but whether there would be a sufficient number of properties on the market. Most managers were challenging staffs to beat the bushes to identify properties to list.
Riverhead also saw its CPF numbers decline from $850,000 in the first quarter of last year to $750,000 for the same period this year, a drop of 11.8 percent.
Southold, on the other hand, totals $1.1 million this year as compared with $950,000 last year, for a 15.8 percent increase.
East Hampton tops the chart, increasing revenues 35 percent, from $5.23 million in 2014 to $7.06 million this year.
Southampton saw a 7.1 decline from $14.3 million last year to $13.2 million this year.
By the time numbers rolled in for 2014, Mr. Thiele said they reflected the largest CPF amounts in the history of the program.
“This reflects the continued strength in East End real estate and the continued availability to local town of the necessary revenues to protect community character,” the legislator said.
