Response to a Letter to the Editor

The Shelter Island Republican Committee released a statement on a letter written by Lynne Weikart published in the Reporter today:

In today’s issue of the Shelter Island Reporter October 30, 2025, there are many errors in Miss Weikart’s letter to the editor:

1) The Town Board does receive a monthly report of all financials that show line for line of the budget, what has been budgeted and what has been spent and what is remaining. It is up to the council person to read that report and understand what’s going on and ask questions if they have them.

2) The Town Board is not getting better value with their new Town attorney. They have him two days a week and are paying the same salary as a full-time attorney. Mr. Gooding did not re-organize the town attorney’s office; rather, he contributed in eliminating the office. He has not ended expensive litigation.

3) Amber Brach-Williams provided the budget weeks earlier than required, and they went through the budget line by line. Mr. Gooding minimally contributed to the review of the budget as noted by his silence during the budget meetings, which are available on YouTube to verify. Feel free to watch.

4) When assessments go up, tax rates do go down, that doesn’t mean that everybody’s taxes go down or that everybody’s taxes go up. It depends on the property assessment. Shelter Island has many waterfront properties whose taxes went down this year; and it has many center properties whose taxes went up this year.