Without Vote, Supervisor's Budget Shapes the Way for 2011

With no more town board meetings scheduled for this week, it is clear that Supervisor Sean Walter's tentative budget will become the town's final budget for calendar year 2011.

Pursuant to state municipal law, the board has until Nov. 20 to vote on a budget. And if no action is taken by that date - which now seems certain - the supervisor's preliminary budget automatically becomes the final budget by default.

The – and which hasn't been altered since – calls for a 4.3 percent increase in town-wide property taxes next year versus 2010, excluding school taxes, which account for roughly 55 percent of the annual tax levy, and certain other special district taxes.

According to Bill Rothaar, the town's financial officer, the tax increase would translate into a tax hike of $76 on property assessed at $40,000, $95 on property assessed at $50,000, and $114 on property with an assessed value of $60,000.

A budget vote was expected to take place at Tuesday's Town Board meeting but the measure was taken off the agenda when it became clear that, despite more then two months of weekly budget work sessions, no three members of the board could agree on specific changes to Walter's original budget.

Councilwoman Jodi Giglio and Councilman George Gabrielsen had been pressing to keep the tax increase to below four percent and on Tuesday said they had identified enough cuts to bring the increase down to around 3.2 percent.

Councilmen Jim Wooten and John Dunleavy, however, argued that some of the cuts Giglio and Gabrielsen proposed were too severe and would result in the town's running out of money to pay basic bills before next year is out.

In addition to opposing the proposed cuts, Dunleavy objected to some of the layoffs called for in Walter's original budget, including eliminating one animal control officer position and one fire marshal position. He said he opposed the cuts out of a concern for public safety.

He also said that certain other job cuts – specifically in the planning department and in community development – would result in "laying off people who actually bring in revenue to the town" in the form of fees and grants. "I think the budget eliminates jobs in the wrong places," he said Tuesday.

Walter had predicted that his tentative budget would become the final budget. It calls for the elimination of six full-time and seven part-time positions, all held by members of the Civil Service Employees Association. In presenting his budget in September, Walter had said the job cuts were necessary because the union refused to make concessions.

The fight to prevent layoffs, however, may not necessarily be over, Walter noted, and toward that end, Stephanie Teff, an official with the CSEA's Long Island Region, appeared at Tuesday's Town Board meeting to say that her union was still willing to consider concessions.

"We are willing to share the pain in order to prevent layoffs," she said. "We are willing to share the pain for the first year, but we need you to sit down and talk to us about subsequent years."

"The budget's going to be the budget by November 20th," Walter responded, "but there's still room between then and January 1 to get the numbers to work."

Walter said that even though specific dollar amounts for salaries in his budget would not change, the union could still agree to make concessions that could save some or all of the jobs slated for elimination.

Teff requested a meeting with Walter this week, but he said a meeting with the union had already been scheduled for Nov. 30 and that possible concessions could be discussed at that time. "But you need to put down numbers in writing," Walter told Teff.

Matt Hattoff, president of the union's Riverhead local, also spoke at the meeting. "If there is no public hearing, then your proposed budget becomes the budget for next year?" he asked Walter.

When Walter replied "yes," Hattoff said, "I can't imagine that the other members of this Town Board can allow that budget to be adopted when you know it's not an accurate budget."

About 30 members of the CSEA attended Tuesday's meeting, holding up signs that quoted Walter as having said, "I'm not going to balance the budget on the backs of CSEA," a reference to a statement Walter had apparently made earlier this year. Other signs read: "Show some respect."