Supe: No Money for Wading River Duck Ponds

A of Riverhead Town's highway department's reserve fund could leave the town with insufficient capital to move forward on other planned projects, the town supervisor said Tuesday.

The impact of the move became immediately clear when, only minutes after the vote, Wading River Civic Associaton vice president Sid Bail stepped up to the podium to ask the board when they would be ready to contribute their portion of a Wading River duck ponds remediation project.

Brookhaven Town, Bail reminded, has already begun work on the project; Riverhead Town's portion is meant to address drainage issues at the ponds, which are shared by both municipalities.

Although there have been delays, Bail said, "We urge you to continue with your efforts to get the necessary funds."

Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter said in light of the vote to utilize the funds from the highway department's reserve fund, the money just wasn't available. The budget transfer would preclude the town from even coming up with the approximately $175,000 to match a grant from the Suffolk County Water Quality Protection and Restoration Program for the project, he said.

"That $175,000 match would have come out of the highway department reserve fund. It won't happen now," Walter said. "I don't know what to tell you."

The Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter's objections, will be used to finance new equipment, road paving, and a repayment of Consolidated Local State and Highway Improvement Progrmam (CHIPS) funds. 

Walter called the after the vote on Tuesday and said it was not a prudent decision to leave the highway department's reserve fund at less than 20 percent. 

Bail pointed out that it has been 20 years since any "significant work" was done at the ponds.

Councilman  George  Gabrielsen agreed and said the vote -- both he and Walter voted no -- to approve the hefty budget transfer had been "fiscally irresponsible. We're squeezing too much out of the reserve."

Bail also asked if anything had been done regarding dredging at Wading River creek. Walter said the goal has been to dredge in July. Last year, he said, permits were obtained but then, the piping plovers arrived -- as did Hurricane Irene. Adding that he would "never waste anyone's money to dredge in December," Walter said currently, both tern and piping plover are at the site. The supervisor said he is awaiting word from National Grid on how to proceed.

After the meeting, Walter said he had spoken with Councilman John Dunleavy and the hope was that perhaps some of the funding that had been transferred for highway department projects could be reallocated by town board resolution to address the Wading River issues.

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