Town Board approves override of State tax cap

The Town Board approved a resolution at its Oct. 18 meeting enabling it to go beyond the 2% state-imposed tax cap in structuring its 2023 budget.

That doesn’t mean the budget will pierce the cap. But Supervisor Gerry Siller’s initial proposal called for a 4.8% increase, and the Town Board needed to act now in case its final budget is higher.

It’s expected the Town Board will conclude work on the budget early next week, but it will still be subject to a public hearing before the Board votes on its adoption.

The State mandates municipal budgets be adopted by Nov. 20.

The Board also held a public hearing on a resolution to raise the income limits allowed to seniors to qualify for lowering their property taxes. The action is in line with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) call for relief for low-income seniors.

CPF public hearing

Applause attended Community Preservation Advisory Committee Chairman Gordon Gooding when he spoke at the Oct. 18 public hearing about the planned acquisition of the Liberti property, directly north of Coecles Harbor. A public hearing is required in advance of the Town Board approving the acquisition.

Mr. Gooding had previously said at a Town Board work session the site, costing $1 million to be shared between the Town and Suffolk County, is being acquired for environmental protection in the area. At high tide, some of the site is under water, Mr. Gooding said.

But the need to acquire it is to avoid the chance of it being purchased by someone who would build a house away from the flood area, but in an environmentally sensitive area.

There is already another house along the Causeway; a second would be a threat to fragile marsh areas, Mr. Gooding said. He noted there are other small parcels along the Causeway, but said they are not buildable.

The parcel to be acquired is in the same area as the site being used for shellfish restoration. The CPF Advisory Committee has been eyeing the property since 2012 and was finally able to negotiate a deal for its acquisition.

Peter Vielbig, who has served on the CPF Advisory Committee, congratulated Mr. Gooding and his members for finally being able to bring the acquisition to fruition. He drew applause from the audience at the meeting Oct. 18.

CDBG money

For a few weeks, there’s been discussion about how much money to seek from the federal Community Development Block Grant program. Past allocations have been for $13,500, used to help fund relatively small projects.

Now the Town Board is looking for $50,000 to fund architectural design work aimed at making Police headquarters and Justice Court compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The buildings were constructed in the 1930s, Councilman Jim Colligan said. The town must make them ADA compliant and can’t afford to delay the action indefinitely, he said.

Earlier, there had been talk about seeking more money to replace the Town-owned house adjacent to Town Hall, which was purchased for eventual office space. Currently there are three tenants living in the dilapidated building. There could be other grant sources for such a project in the future, Mr. Colligan said.

Cozy Lane

It has been a long time coming, necessitated by required legal steps, before action to remove an abandoned, unsafe house at 9 Cozy Lane could be taken, but the Board finally set a public hearing for Nov. 9 on its removal.

Notices have been sent to owner William Conroy, with the last certified letter failing to be collected by him or someone acting on his behalf. Following the hearing, the Board can vote on whether to secure, repair or demolish the structure. Costs of the project would be assessed to the owner.

Appointments

Members of the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee, whose terms expired Oct. 2, were reappointed. They are Wendy Turgeon, Petra Schmidt, Jo-Ann Robotti, Rebecca Mundy, John Kerr, Lily Hoffman, Benjamin Dyett, Sean Clark, Jay Card Jr. and Peter Beardsley. Their terms now expire on Oct. 2, 2024.

William McCoy was appointed as assessor as of Oct. 1, and those who have been working in that office — Pat Castoldi and Judith Lechmanski along with clerk Blanca Frausto — will continue to assist Mr. McCoy.

Matthew Fox was appointed to the Planning Board  and Peder Larsen was reappointed to the Conservation Advisory Council.

As announced last week, Chris DiOrio was formally removed from the Community Housing Board and Community Housing Fund Advisory Board, and Elizabeth Hanley, who has been chairwoman of the Community Housing Fund Advisory Board and a member of the CHB, will now chair both boards.

In other actions, the Town Board:

• Approved a $10,000 allocation to Cornell Cooperative Extension to operate a shellfish hatchery and nursery at its Cedar Beach Southold, Marine Environmental Learning Center to produce shellfish for restocking Town waters for the current year.

• Approved payment of $8,925 to the Peconic Estuary Partnership.

• Accepted a contribution of $7,500 from the Fresh Pond Neighbors Association to be used toward the remediation feasibility study of that body of water.

• Set a public hearing for Nov. 9 on the proposed transfer of 46 moorings from Jack’s Marine, previously owned by Mike and Camille Anglin, to CXR Shelter Island Heights Marine on behalf of Stacie Soloviev and Martin Finnegan.