Letters

I found your coverage of the recent East Hampton budget of interest, as it once again pierced the state budget cap of 2 percent [“East Hampton Town’s $110 Million Tentative Budget for 2026 Would Pierce Tax Cap,” 27east.com, October 1]. The town’s supervisor is correct that it is an unrealistic target to meet, but it is hard to justify an increased 6 percent this year, after 9 percent a year earlier on her watch.

I suppose we should be happy that the supervisor gave an interview herself, as opposed to the newly hired, full-time public relations person. Does a town the size of East Hampton really need that?

While the supervisor blames the increases (which are two to three times the rate of inflation) in the last few years on benefits and trying to keep employees, that is only part of the story. Perhaps the town’s budget could have been 2 percent lower had the town decided to put up two new stop signs on Stephen Hands Path, as opposed to a nearly $2 million traffic circle that was not needed.

Or perhaps the town should have planned to work with the federal government to arrange for sand to be deposited at Ditch Plains when the dredging work in downtown Montauk was taking place. That would have cost a small fraction of the now planned $5 million sand dump for just 2,000 linear feet of beach that will be shared with New York State; for perspective, that is more than 10 times the amount usually spent annually.

Maybe the town should start a taxing district for such services, as Bridgehampton/Sagaponack does for its wealthier residents who live along the ocean. If so, that would save another 2 percent from the budget. Regardless, a town that spends nothing to actually reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions is waging a losing battle against climate change by just dumping more sand that will simply wash away in the next few years.

Maybe instead of planning on hiring five new police officers to deal with the summer season, the town should consider hiring retired officers for just three months? Hospitals in resort areas do this with doctors, so it should be possible with police officers.

Of course, you can’t ignore the boondoggle that the upgrade of the senior center has turned into. Why does the town insist on making it three times as large above ground as the current facility, when they have actually cut back on services like adult day care that used to be offered? How has the budget quadrupled in the past decade from $8 million to over $30 million now?

These are just a handful of examples that show that if the town really cared about fiscal responsibilities, it could have cut its budget increases significantly.

Brad Brooks

Springs