Shelter Island Reporter Letters to the Editor: April 9, 2026
INDEPENDENT PLANNING BOARD
To the Editor:
This letter serves as a “Thank you” to the mayor and trustees of the Village of Dering Harbor for their consideration to restore the Village’s independent Planning Board in advance of the proposed lot-line application before the trustees this Saturday, April 14, 2026.
As two of you may remember when you were first elected to the Board, you afforded me the opportunity to appoint open Board positions and also to appoint a vacant trustee seat that we accomplished promptly. When I resigned my seat on the Architectural Review Board to appoint a new resident, we reached a high water mark of21 households represented on the Village Boards.
Upon dissolution of the Planning Board two years ago, coupled with your own appointment as Planning Board members — for the assertion that, “We will not have any subdivisions” — you created a difficult position for the Village as you now have to adjudicate an application proposed by two fellow Board members — one who knew about a possible conflict before dissolution of the Planning Board and voted for it.
Although recusal is warranted, placing the burden on the remaining three members could put the Village in a defensive position specifically under (1) NYS General Municipal Law section 805-a (conflict of interest), (2) self-dealing in violation of the public trust, and (3) corrupt use of official position under Penal Law section 200.00 et seq. depending on intent.
Appointing an independent Board would be in your own interest and also the interest of the Village and its residents. The Village Boards are a terrific way to introduce new residents to the Village and a way to give future trustees more experience.
As I understand the application by the legal notice in the paper, I do not think any resident would turn the request down.
JOHN T. COLBY JR., Shelter Island
REPORTER HEADLINE
To the Editor:
The front page story and headline in The Reporter on April 2 read: ‘School budget cuts aired, 2.07% increase proposed.’
A cursory reading of this headline and article might lead the reader to believe that the School District reduced its proposed budget to a 2.07% increase, thus making the 2% cap. This is not true. The District reduced the proposed budget by $340,000, leaving the proposed budget at $13.57 million. This is a tax levy increase of 6.8% mentioned later in the article.
Nowhere in the long article is it stated that Shelter Island remains one of only four districts on all of Long Island to propose breaking the cap. All of the other school districts on Long Island managed to keep their budget increases at or below the 2% cap. And Shelter Island is proposing the highest percentage increase of all districts on Long Island this year.
Voters, please stay informed of the truth about Shelter Island School’s proposed budget.
BOB FREDERICKS, Shelter Island
DOWN, DOWN, DOWN
To the Editor:
The Unrestricted Reserve is going down, down, down.
The FY2024 audit has just been released, and the numbers tell a worrisome story about Shelter Island’s fiscal health. Property tax is the town’s largest and most stable revenue source. In FY2026, we budgeted $13,003,532 in property tax revenue against a total budget of $17,685,901 — covering 73.5% of expenditures. To fund the remaining 26.5%, the Town supervisor has drawn on other sources, including the unrestricted reserve fund. Drawing on reserves isn’t inherently problematic — if those funds are replenished – but the Town supervisor has not done this.
At a Town Board meeting last year, members raised concerns about this pattern. The Town supervisor had the audacity to respond that they were ignorant for objecting, insisting the fund is replenished — that sometimes she takes from it and other times she restores it. The audit record tells a different story.
Prior supervisors balanced budgets without reducing the unrestricted fund balance, and sometimes added to it. Since this supervisor took responsibility for the budget (FY2024–2026), hundreds of thousands has been drawn down with more than a million dollars budgeted with no replenishment.
As recently as FY2023, the unrestricted reserve stood at $2.9 million. By the end of this fiscal year, it will be approximately $1.7 million. If current trends continue, and there is no indication they will change, the fund will be fully depleted by the end of FY2029, assuming the Town supervisor continues with abandonment as she has in the past.
LYNNE WEIKART, Ph.D, Shelter Island
