Anticipating Tuthill Avenue Land Sale, Board Creates Reserve Fund

Anybody in the market for farmland may soon have 25 acres in Aquebogue to bid on later this year.

After in Aquebogue, the Board of Education voted Tuesday night to create a reserve fund which would be funded by the proceeds of the sale of the land itself.

The County Legislature still has to vote to acquire the property's development rights, which may not come until the fall, according to Legis. Ed Romaine, R-Center Moriches. But a purchase price of $1.325 million has already been agreed to by the school board.

"Once [the county purchases the development rights], we will then look to sell the land itself to a farmer or someone else who has use for it consistent with the restrictions on it," Carney said via email. "Namely that it can only be used for agricultural purposes."

Carney said the land will then likely go through a bidding process. The proceeds, per Tuesday night's resolution, would be placed in a mandatory reserve fund.

School Board President Ann Cotten DeGrasse said last month that the district is working toward determining exactly what to do with the funds, though pointed toward placing the proceeds to a new school bus barn, which Carney mentioned in a recent letter to Romaine seeking his support.

"The proceeds of the sale of the development rights to Suffolk County and the subsequent sale of the land to a farmer will go to repairing or replacing our existing bus garage, which is 90 years old," she wrote. "The facility is aging and in desperate need of renovation."

Former County Executive Steve Levy had vetoed a measure to preserve the property in 2011 - which was later overridden by the County Legislature with a 13-4 vote - stating that purchasing land from a public agency would set a "dangerous precedent."

"To ask the taxpayers to purchase property currently owned from a school district would result in having the residents of that school district pay for the same land twice," Levy wrote.

Bill Faulk, a legislative aide for Romaine, said that because the fund is a dedicated reserve, the funding for the development rights isn't coming at the expense of anything else.

"The money is dedicated for land preservation," he said. "It's not like that can be used to balance the budget."

The proposal still has a ways to go through the county until the full Legislature even vote on it: the Division of Real Estate will conduct an environmental site assessment, which will require approval from the Council of Environmental Quality. The measure will then require approval from the Environmental, Planning and Agriculture Committee to make its way in front of the entire legislature.

Tim Griffing Bids Board Farewell

The school board's longest-tenured member, Tim Griffing, bid the board farewell Tuesday night after serving since 2003.

Griffing, who owns two small businesses he plans to devote more time to, said that while he didn't always see eye to eye with other voting members of the board, throughout his tenure he kept the interest of the district's students in mind above all else.

"What I do is use common sense to make decisions, and not be swayed by anybody. Sometimes people didn’t like that, sometimes they did. If everyone on the board here backs this district with the best interest of children in mind, it seems to take a course that is very successful. Think about the kids first, and also, being a steward of the money, you find a balance of what’s good for the taxpayers and good for the children."