Dougherty calls for 1.2-percent rise in spending, taxes

Spending would rise by slightly more than 1 percent to $9,698,362 in 2012 in the preliminary budget for 2012, Supervisor Jim Dougherty told the Town Board when he formally presented the budget plan on Tuesday.

“I’m happy to report that even with the Red Cross ambulance” being added to the town’s expenses in 2012, the preliminary budget calls for “a very modest 1.2 percent increase in the budget and taxes,” Mr. Dougherty said at Tuesday’s budget presentation.

He and his colleagues on the Town Board, he said, would be meeting over the next seven weeks with department heads to go over and modify the proposal.

“Our budgets have not been novels,” he said. “There have been very few major variances between the budget and the actuals,” he said, “We want to do a similar job this year.”

The supervisor said he had three points to make in his comments on the budget.

First, he praised Highway Department Clerk Teresa Montant and Highway Superintendent Mark Ketcham for having “worked very hard” on their department’s budget request — the largest of all town departments — despite illness. He said that “some of the numbers I didn’t really fully see and digest.” Mr. Ketcham would be meeting with the board today, Thursday, to go over his department’s numbers, the supervisor added.

Secondly, Mr. Dougherty said the state comptroller’s office had advised him that the addition of the Red Cross ambulance to the town’s budget was not exempt from the 2-percent cap on property tax increase mandated by a new state law. As of Tuesday, he said, about $70,000 had been estimated as the new department’s cost in 2012.

Finally, he said, “I don’t think I was a meany but I have been firm” in reviewing departmental requests. “In some instances I disagreed with department heads. I did what I thought was fair and reasonable under the grim circumstances” of a stagnant economy.

The supervisor acknowledged there was “some squishiness” in the proposal; Councilman Glenn Waddington noted there were some blanks for salaried town employees. No salary is listed in the proposal for Town Assessor Al Hammond.

Mr. Dougherty said that he had been assembling the budget plan at 4 p.m. on Friday when it was due by state law in Town Clerk Dorothy Ogar’s hands. He thanked her for “stopping the clock” so he, Mr. Hammond and accounting clerk Kathy Sullivan could finish the 58-page document and submit it at 4:40 p.m.

The Town Board has until November 20 to adopt a final budget and has scheduled a series of extra meetings through October to review the supervisor’s proposal.

A preliminary review of the proposal yielded the following points, which probably will be discussed during the Town Board’s review process. Supervisor Dougherty, asked about some aspects of the budget on Wednesday, said the budget was preliminary and the numbers needed work and discussion:

• The amount to be raised by taxes in 2012 is budgeted at $6,747,249 compared to the $6,664,345 that was raised in 2011, an increase of 1.2 percent.

• It was not immediately clear at press time how an increase of 1.2 percent in expenditures over the 2011 budget was calculated.

Mr. Dougherty’s total proposed expenditures of $9,698,362 represent a 7-percent decrease, not a 1.2 percent rise, from the budgeted spending total of $10,449,830 for 2011 shown on a November 8, 2010 draft budget summary sheet.

The summary page for Mr. Dougherty’s proposal does not include 2011 budget totals, except the amount raised by taxes. Previous year totals typically have been included on a “Summary of All Funds” page in past budgets.

• The total police department budget proposed for 2012 is $1,505,618, slightly lower than the $1,541,003 requested but up from the $1,423,947 budgeted in 2011. The figure includes 4 percent salary increases for PBA members that were awarded recently through binding arbitration.

• The total proposed Highway Department budget for 2012 is $2,458,412, down 13.5 percent from the $2,843,408 shown in the November budget summary for 2011. It is down 16.4 percent from another number, $2,941,383, that is listed in the preliminary 2012 document as the budgeted amount in 2011.

The highway budget appears to include only $822,315 from an expected $1.432 million federal highway grant for erosion control work on the Ram Island causeway.

• The landfill total is down significantly from the $992,081 budgeted in 2011 to $735,903 for 2012. The figure includes a drop in the amount for hauling, from $145,000 budgeted in 2011 to $110,000 for 2012, and fees for solid waste carting, down from $120,000 to $90,000 for 2012.

• The public works budget proposal for 2012 is $364,924, higher than the $259,757 requested and well below the $476,135 budgeted in 2011. It may be some of the causeway erosion project grant money is included in the figure.

• A total of $1,648,234 is budgeted for general fund employee benefits such as retirement, Social Security, Workers Compensation, unemployment, disability and medical insurance, up from $1,574,453 budgeted in 2011.

• No raises are proposed for key town employees including elected officials. Councilpersons make $35,005 and the supervisor $70,000. Town Attorney Laury Dowd’s salary remains unchanged at $69,920. Town Clerk Dorothy Ogar’s salary remains at $70,733. No salary is listed for Assessor Al Hammond in 2012; it was budgeted at $60,815 in 2011, according to the document.

• The total budget for the supervisor’s office shows a sizeable drop to $179,204 in 2012 from the $220,676 budgeted in 2011; part of the drop, $36,386, is the result of no salary being listed for administrative aide Barbara Bloom, as well as a drop in her pay as “administrative assistant health” from the $7,772 budgeted in 2011 to $5,048 budgeted in 2012.

• The budget maintains a $15,000 contribution to the Shelter Island Historical Society

• The budget for the Town Clerk’s office is down from $167,286 in 2011 to $161,608 in the 2012 proposal. Part of the drop is the result of the absence of an overtime budget for Deputy Clerk Sharon Jacobs. The figure was $3,978 in 2011. No figure is listed in the 2012 proposal.

• Unallocated insurance expenses for 2012 are projected to be the same $150,000 budgeted in 2011.

• Salaries for non-union jobs at the town beaches are down from $19,380 in 2011 to $10,000 in 2012.

• The amount budgeted for recreation programs is down from $25,500 in 2011 to $15,000 for 2012.