Shelter Island Town budget set to exceed tax cap: Only two towns in County expect budgets within limit

“Everybody is facing an increase this year,” Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams told her Town Board colleagues at Monday’s budget workshop.

She noted that eight of the 10 towns in Suffolk County are looking at budgets that will go above the state-imposed tax cap. Only Smithtown and Huntington expect to stay within the cap, the supervisor said.

Misery may love company, but taxpayers won’t be pleased to learn they’re looking at a draft budget that is at a 10.2% increase over this year, the highest of the eight towns projected to pierce the tax cap.

At Monday’s session, Town Board members began the tedious process of examining the budget page by page. Councilman Albert Dickson led the way, saying he can’t take the projected raise in a councilperson’s salary from the current $45,030 to $46,700.

“I know it’s a token amount,” Mr. Dickson said. Councilman Benjamin Dyett agreed, but said in the interests of attracting younger people to seek Board seats, it’s important to ramp up the pay.

Ms. Brach-Williams said including the raises was the result of conversations with leaders of both political parties who appealed for efforts to attract people to government service. Cutting the raises wouldn’t save much money, she said.

Raises should happen for new Town Board members winning seats, not the current Board members, Mr. Dyett said.

The first pass on the budget involved questions about what some numbers covered.

Professional services, projected to stay at $200,000, cover necessary financial reviews from Cullen & Danowski; labor counsel to assist in negotiations with unions; and use of P.W. Grosser and other environmental experts to assist in providing services in line with the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Ms. Brach-Williams told her colleagues she expects there will be more calls for SEQRA reports in the future.

One cut she suggested is scaling back an $8,000 allotment for officials to attend the Association of Towns conference, generally held in Manhattan. She said the cost per attendee averages $1,300 and stressed it’s necessary for the person elected to fill the vacant Town Board seat to attend. But some money could be saved by cutting back on the number of people who attend the conference.

There were questions about so called “longevity pay.” After five years of service, Town employees get additional pay based on their years of employment with the Town.

The supervisor revealed that she is still in talks with Detective Sgt. Jack Thilberg, who is a full-time employee of the Police Department as well as the director of the Town’s Emergency Medical Services. The EMS position is not typically eligible for longevity pay, Ms. Brach-Williams said.

Still, Mr. Thilberg asked for its inclusion in his pay for the EMS job. That is to be further discussed, she said.

Ms. Brach-Williams also said talks with Stony Brook University Hospital, which has shared some of the cost to maintain Advanced Lifesaving coverage by paramedics around the clock, are still ongoing.

When the EMS budget first allowed hiring paramedics part time, Stony Brook paid half the cost. The previous administration supported expanding coverage around the clock and the cost this year was $431,250. The 2025 budget calls for the same amount to be allocated.

Looking at major allocations, there’s a need to spend $100,000 to bring untainted drinking water into the Town Hall complex. The Town is mandated to do so by the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, something that can’t be ignored.

Going forward this month, the Town Board will continue its examination of the budget, hunting for spending cuts. To reduce the tax increase by 1% takes cuts totaling $118,225. The next session is slated for 1 p.m. Oct. 10, with followup sessions Friday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.