The Sag Harbor Village Board adopted its operating budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year this week, keeping spending essentially flat and resulting in a tax increase of less than 1 percent, or about $15 for a typical homeowner.
The board adopted the budget after a final work session last Friday at which it finally resolved to cut more than $100,000 in spending for new oxygen packs for the Sag Harbor Fire Department. Mayor Brian Gilbride said the board members, seeking to minimize spending this year, did not see the purchase of new packs as necessary.
The department currently has 54 of the packs, which connect to oxygen bottles when firemen are entering a burning structure. The new packs would have been compatible with some of the bottles used by other departments as well. Mr. Gilbride noted that $65,000 was left in the department’s equipment budget if they find that purchasing some of the new packs is necessary.
The budget also left out the hiring of another police officer, a move requested by Chief Thomas Fabiano. The department has been left shorthanded by injuries to officers.
“Could we have done a little bit more? Yes, I suppose we could have, but these are tough times,” Mr. Gilbride said. “We said we were going to hold the line this year, and we did. Maybe next year things will be a little better and we can do some things.”
The tax rate in the village will mean that a house assessed at $795,000 will have a tax bill this year of $2,083, a $14.57 increase over last year.
This budget process has been the last for Trustee Tiffany Scarlato, who has announced she will not seek reelection to a fourth term on the Village Board.
Ms. Scarlato, a former assistant East Hampton Town attorney, has a private practice in Sag Harbor with another former East Hampton Town attorney, Beth Baldwin. She said that if she remained on the board she would be precluded from handling cases before any of the village’s regulatory boards.
“I need to focus on my business right now,” she said. “This was a very painful decision for me to make.”
Ms. Scarlato, who was on the board for six years and had considered running for mayor last year, said she plans to consider running for the Village Board again in the future.
Village Clerk Sandra Schroeder said that just one person, Southampton Town legislative aide Ryan Horn, has picked up a petition for a board seat.
“I’ve been talking to a number of past and present village leaders, as well as others I respect. The feedback has been excellent,” Mr. Horn said in an e-mail this week. “They’ve all said being a native with my local government experience would make the Village Board a good fit.”
Mr. Horn was a legislative aide to Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman and former Southampton Town Supervisor Linda Kabot and now works as an aide to members of the Southampton Town Board.
Trustee Robbie Stein plans to run to retain his seat on the board. He was appointed last summer after Mr. Gilbride won the mayor’s race.
on Apr 21, 2010