Shelter Island Reporter Letters to the Editor: April 17, 2026
TAKE THE SURVEY
To the Editor:
Shelter Island is a special place and keeping it that way means ensuring our residents can access the health care they need, right here at home.
A dedicated group of community members has been working hard to address a growing gap in local medical services, including efforts to reestablish a full-service pharmacy on the Island. To move forward effectively, we need to hear from you.
The Shelter Island Future Healthcare Needs Survey is now available, and we’re asking every resident to take 2–5 minutes to complete it. The survey is on the Town website —shelterislandtown.gov. We will also put it out on social media, and there will be hard copies for people to fill out at Town Hall, Senior Center and FIT Center.
The survey covers a range of important topics: access to a local pharmacy; the availability of physician services; home visits for those who have difficulty traveling; mental health resources; medical equipment rental; and more. This isn’t just a formality. Your responses will directly shape the direction the Town takes in rebuilding and expanding healthcare services.
With 40.82% of our Island population aged 60 and older (NYS Office of Aging), these are not abstract concerns — they affect the daily lives and long-term wellbeing of our neighbors, our parents, and ourselves. We know that getting off-Island for medical care is a real burden. Ferry schedules, transportation costs, mobility challenges — these barriers are significant, and they fall hardest on those who are most vulnerable.
The goal of this effort is to find practical, community-driven solutions that keep care closer to home. Your responses will also play a critical role in guiding our grant funding efforts, helping ensure that every dollar we pursue is targeted toward the services our community actually needs.
Please take a few minutes to complete the survey and share it with your family, friends, and neighbors. Every voice counts, and the more responses we receive, the stronger our case for meaningful change. Thank you for helping build a healthier Shelter Island.
MEG LARSEN, Deputy Supervisor, Town of Shelter Island
CONCERNS
To the Editor:
Ms. Weikart’s recent letter (“Down, down, down,” April 9) raised concerns that the Town is “running out of money,” citing a decline in what is described as an “unrestricted reserve,” a term not defined in the Town’s audited financial statements and not corresponding to any reported category.
The $2.9 million figure referenced for 2023 aligns with the General Fund’s unassigned fund balance. However, the $1.7 million figure cited for the current year does not appear in the audited financial statements and is not reconciled to any reported balance. It appears to be a derived or estimated figure presented without explanation.
According to the Town’s 2024 audit, the General Fund unassigned balance at year-end was approximately $2.5 million. The change from the prior year is largely explained by planned use of fund balance to support the 2025 budget, including approximately $527,748 appropriated for that purpose, along with transfers into restricted reserves and other routine year-end adjustments. These are standard elements of municipal financial management and do not represent a depletion of funds.
More broadly, the Town’s financial position improved in 2024. Net position increased by approximately $3.6 million across all governmental activities, reflecting revenues exceeding expenditures, supported in part by property tax revenues, increased non-property tax revenues, and higher interest earnings.
While the 2025 fiscal year has concluded, final results have not yet been reported in audited financial statements. As such, conclusions about future depletion, particularly regarding the planned use of the $527,748, are premature.
Taken as a whole, the audited financial statements do not indicate fiscal decline, but rather a municipality that generated a surplus and strengthened its overall financial position.
ARTHUR R. WILLIAMS, Former supervisor, Town of Shelter Island
A CRITICAL HEARING
To the Editor:
Islanders concerned about our ground and surface water: the time for vigilance and action has arrived!
The 1,000-plus Islanders who answered the comprehensive plan survey identified groundwater and the health of our creeks and bays as their #1 and #3 concerns. Most of us rely on wells drawing from the fragile single-source aquifer beneath us. Most care greatly about the creeks and bays, on which some depend for their livelihood, others for recreation.
The Town Board is completing a new draft of the comprehensive plan and preparing to engage consultants to do an environmental analysis and hopefully undertake a Generic Environmental Impact Statement, as was conducted in connection with the 1994 plan. It is imperative that this work is done by credible, objective consultants, not ones likely to rubber stamp an agenda, as has occurred before. We must make sure that the final comprehensive plan protects our waters and does not open the door to unneeded development that would threaten them or require a costly expansion of public water or the resurrection of the previously rejected plan for a public septic system.
An immediate test case for maintaining current protections of our waters is before the Zoning Board of Appeals. An April 22 7:30 p.m. hearing concerns an unprecedented application for multiple variances to allow construction of an accessory apartment on a .28 acre at 9 South Cartwright in the Near Shore and Peninsular Overlay District.
The Town Code explicitly bans construction. An approval of this application would open the door to development and environmental harm in this long-recognized environmentally sensitive area. Concerned Islanders should attend the hearing in person or via the zoom link on the ZBA web page and/or write the board at [email protected]. Feel free to contact me for more information.
STEPHEN JACOBS, Shelter Island
U.S.NEEDS NATO
To the Editor:
Leaving NATO? Not an option
Since its founding in 1949, NATO created a force under a centralized command to deter Soviet aggression. Article 5 stipulates that an attack on one member is an attack on all, which has effectively prevented the “Cold War” from escalating into a “Hot War” between the world’s major nuclear powers.
There’s no doubt the United States of America has played a key role in that alliance, both in terms of economic and military support. Many would argue that America has paid more than its fair share. Allies are transitioning toward a new target of 5% of GDP for overall defense-related spending by 2035.
It’s obvious that Putin and Russia would love to see the United States pull out of NATO. It would signal that the U.S. is no longer committed to a collective defense of Europe, potentially inviting aggression in Europe and elsewhere in the world.
Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has evolved from a purely defensive alliance into a proactive global security provider. Its successful operations range from
high-intensity combat and peacekeeping to counter-privacy and humanitarian relief. During Hurricane Katrina, NATO coordinated the delivery of nearly 190 tons of medical and logistics supplies to victims of the hurricane.
We should not forget, that following 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, NATO invoked Article 5 for the only time in its history. Operation Eagle Assist saw NATO aircraft patrol U.S. skies to prevent further attacks. Let’s also remember that NATO members suffered over 1,000 fatalities in Afghanistan in its efforts to support American and Afghan troops fighting the Taliban.
Recently, the President has publicly chastised our European allies for not aiding America’s efforts in Iran. Friends don’t throw friends under the bus and then ask them for help.
JIM COLLIGAN, Former councilman, Town of Shelter Island
EXTRAORDINARY DIORAMA
To the Editor:
While we have had a summer cottage on the Island, we are not full-time residents. But we still feel very possessive of this wonderful community.
I do hope the Town will bend over backwards to work cooperatively with Sylvester Manor and not be too “creative” with conditions for approval of the restoration.
To me an hour at Sylvester Manor is enough to experience 500 years of American history, from the time when the Island was occupied by Indigenous People, to the European settlers, to the Slave Trade, to the American War of Independence, to the Civil War, to the Industrial Revolution, to all that happened in the 20th Century, to the present. An extraordinary diorama, set in a beautiful venue.
To preserve, you have to restore!
RURIK HALABY, Shelter Island
