Town budget pierces tax cap; public hearing is Tuesday
Because the proposed 2020 Shelter Island Town budget will pierce the state-imposed 2% tax cap on spending, the Town Board unanimously passed a resolution at its meeting Friday to override the limit.
As the budget proposal currently stands, it calls for a 5.3% increase in spending. But that could change with possible additions or deletions that result from some items left open by the Town Board and comments from residents who may influence decisions to be made before the budget is finalized.
The current draft stands at $12.7 million, of which $9.8 million would need to come from taxpayers. The current year’s budget was funded with $9.3 million from taxes paid this year.
Open items include:
• The possible purchase for $40,000 of a hybrid vehicle for the Police Department
• An allocation of $5,000 to the Shelter Island Early Childhood Learning Center
• Suggestions from residents at a public hearing for either additions or cuts to the proposed budget
Copies of the proposed 2020 Shelter Island Town budget are available at the Town Clerk’s office for review in advance of a public hearing on the document to be held Tuesday, Oct. 22, at 1 p.m.
Following that session, the Town Board will move to adopt a new budget on Nov. 19, at a special 1 p.m. meeting.
In other actions, the Town Board:
• Granted a special permit approving the site plan of Sherman Engineering & Consulting for Happy Groundhog, LLC., to alter the use of the premises at 18 Manwaring Road by replacing six A-frame cabins with six new two-bedroom structures; demolishing an existing larger single family residence and reconstructing a 2,400 square foot single family residence with an attached garage; and installing a nitrogen-reducing system septic system to serve the six cabins and a separate nitrogen-reducing septic system to serve the single family house.
• Continued the term of Peder Larsen as a member of the Conservation Advisory Council to Sept. 20, 2020.
• Appointed Katie Potter as an aide at the FIT Center.
