Retirement costs rise for 2010 budget

The 2010 town budget has moved to the top of the Town Board agenda as a new piece of bad fiscal news was aired at Town Hall Tuesday.


Town contributions for its employees in the state retirement systems will go up dramatically in 2010 according to rates based on dismal stock market performance last March, the state comptroller notified the town this week.


Town Supervisor Jim Dougherty said that to comply with the comptroller’s notice, the town must increase its contributions for 60 town employees from about 6 percent of their estimated salaries to about 11 percent. For the town’s nine police officers, the contributions increase from 14 percent to 17 percent. The good news: retirement contributions for 2009 were $20,000 less than expected.


But that won’t make up for the additional $170,000 due to the state in 2010. The funds go to two state retirement systems — the Employee’s Retirement System (ERS) for the 60 regular town employees and the Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS) for the SIPD. A total payment of about $300,000 from the town will be due on December 15, 2010.


“We don’t have any control over the percentage of estimated salaries” we put into the retirement systems, Supervisor Dougherty said, but “we do have control over some of our salaries.”


That includes police officer salaries dictated by a contract that has gone from an impasse to binding arbitration, Mr. Dougherty reported. “We don’t agree with what their compensation aspirations are,” he said of the Police Benevolent Association. For 2008, salaries for the town’s nine officers were budgeted at between $80,754 and $105,581. The officers have not had a raise since their contract with the town expired on December 31, 2008.


Councilman Ed Brown turned the discussion back to the retirement contributions. A similar situation arose several years ago but turned around the following year. “It’s just one of those dips you’ve got to go through and manage properly,” he commented.


In other budget discussions, the board heard department budget presentations from Paul Mobius of the Planning Board, Al Hammond of the Assessors Office and Nancy Kotula of the Tax Receivers office, who offered cost saving measures to keep their 2010 expenses flat or below 2009 levels.


Preliminary budget talks will begin in earnest on Monday, October 5 at 1 p.m. Morning budget sessions are tentatively planned for each Tuesday that follows, through October 20.


OTHER TOPICS


In addition to discussions of the budget and Heights sewer system expansion plans (page 10), the Town Board also


• Indicated support for joining in a legal action to stay the onset of marine fishing license regulations until January 2010. For more on the issue, see page 13.


• Heard from two mooring owners whose permits were at risk of revocation. Each said that they would submit photos and coordinates of their moorings to the Town Clerk.


• Asked for clarification of a Suffolk County Planning Commission request to adopt a resolution intended to reduce county review of town planning and zoning applications.


• Reported that over $139,000 in federal funds are earmarked to mitigate runoff into West Neck Bay.