Proposed Shelter Island Town budget on the table: Supervisor notes tough decisions are ahead

Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams presented a tentative budget proposal that if adopted would raise taxes by 10.2%, an increase she said is not “palatable.”

The $17.667 million spending plan would need to be supported by $13.028 million from taxes.

“There is clearly more work to be done and some tough decisions that we as a Board are going to have to make,” the supervisor said in a cover letter that accompanied the tentative budget.

After meetings with department heads and committee chairs, she listened to their requests and determined salaries for 2025 represent 42% of overall spending.

Salary increases for non-union employees this year failed to keep pace with the increases union employees — police and highway personnel — received.

Island employees have for years been lower paid than their counterparts in other area towns, Ms. Brach-Williams said. She proposes non-union employees should receive raises that meet the Consumer Price Index at 3.7%.

The supervisor has not recommended all of the new hires requested. But with anticipated retirements in the Police Department requiring new hires, and/or

 expanded night coverage and a Police Academy training program starting, costs will rise. In addition, an officer was hired late this year. That was not anticipated in the 2024 budget, but must be accommodated in the 2025 spending plan, Ms. Brach-Williams said.

Other expenses include: Two Building Department employees, who have been working 35 hours a week, will see their hours expanded to 40 hours a week. Zoning Board of Appeals members asked for more compensation to reflect the move of home size variances from being a Town Board consideration for a special permit to the ZBA for variances.

The chairman of the ZBA currently receives $11,124, while each of the members receive $5,562. The 2025 budget request is for the chairman to be paid $15,000 and each member to receive $7,500.

There were requests for other increases that aren’t in the tentative budget, Ms. Brach-Williams said. They include hiring a part-time assessor, a Town Clerk archivist, an additional half day for the social worker, and an increase from part-time to full-time for the code enforcement/building inspector. A part-time clerk for the Highway Department also is not funded in the supervisor’s draft.

Employee benefit costs for retirees, health insurance premiums and payroll taxes and insurances total $4.857 million, or 27% of total appropriations. Employee benefits have increased by 15% which accounts for 5.4% of the draft budget increase.

Not only are there increases in spending, but some decreases in anticipated revenues. Mortgage tax revenue “varies wildly from year to year,” Ms. Brach-Williams said. This year, the tax was anticipated to bring in $315,000, but in 2025, based on actual receipts to date, it is expected to net only $178,000. That one revenue source represents a 1.2% increase to the 2025 draft budget.

There is a cut in anticipated spending in the Capital Planning/Grants budget. Purchase of a high-water rescue vehicle is expected to be partially funded with grant money, the supervisor said. The vehicle is needed to rescue people from low-lying areas that flood in foul weather.

Most of last year’s capital expenditures were funded through the American Rescue Plan Act that brought money from the federal government to help states and municipalities recover from the COVID pandemic.

Most grants require a contribution from the Town that can vary from 25% to 50% of the cost. That limits how many grants the Town can consider without raising taxes.

There are a couple of large expenditures in the 2025 budget draft. One is related to the Suffolk County Department of Health Services mandating a “public water system” for Town buildings in the Center. Such buildings are held to a higher standard because they are buildings that a large number of residents access. The other is a need to have a generic environmental impact statement prepared for the draft Comprehensive Plan.

Both are in the budget at $100,000, adding to spending needs.

The supervisor noted there are some refinements that will take place in her draft, but she said, “A lot of thought has gone into the process so far … there is clearly more work to be done and some tough decisions that we as a Board are going to have to make.”

She outlined a schedule of work sessions to pore through the document line by line in search of possible cuts, and meetings with officials who will want to make cases for sustaining their original requests.

The sessions begin Monday, Oct. 7 from 9 a.m. to noon; Tuesday, Oct. 8 from 1 to 3 p.m.; Thursday, Oct. 10 from 1 to 4 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 11 from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 18, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.; and, if needed, Thursday, Oct. 24 from 9 a.m. to noon.

A public hearing will be scheduled for Nov. 7 to take input from the community, but only the Town Board votes on whether to adopt the budget.