Southampton Town Board Begins Looking Into Giving CPF Money To Peconic Estuary Program

Southampton Town Board members are looking into the possibility of combining with other East End towns in giving a portion of the 20 percent of Community Preservation Fund revenues earmarked for water quality projects to the Peconic Bay National Estuary Program—a government-funded organization focused on protecting and restoring bodies of water and wetlands surrounding Peconic Bay.

When residents in Southampton voted in 2016 to extend the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund and to allow 20 percent of proceeds to be used to improve water quality, one of the ideas was that a portion of the money could be used to match as much as 10 percent of federal, state, county and other funding for the estuary program.

Hypothetically, if the program brings in $50 million in a year, and 20 percent of that can go toward water quality, up to $1 million could go to support the Peconic Estuary Program.

“When the CPF law was changed to allow 20 percent … it provided, actually, a way for the money for the first time to go outside of the Town of Southampton to the Peconic Estuary Program for the management of the Peconic Estuary,” Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said at a Town Board work session last Thursday, August 23.

Town Board member John Bouvier said the idea was that the Peconic Estuary was a regional resource, so all five towns would be contributing to its preservation. “I think that makes perfect sense,” he said.

At the work session, Mr. Schneiderman said he thought the percentage was 5 percent and not 10, but if it were 5 percent, the amount that could go toward the estuary program would be $500,000. “That is a sizable amount,” the supervisor said. “I believe it has to be matched. We might not even be able to give a half million dollars.”

The board was not ready to make a decision on how much should be contributed to the program, but noted they would invite the director of the Peconic Estuary Program, Dr. Joyce Novak, to a work session sometime in the fall to discuss what types of programs the organization is working on currently and where they plan to go in the coming years.

Mr. Schneiderman added that at some point before the end of the year, the board will have to make a decision on whether to fund them anything or to come up with an exact percentage.

“All five East End towns share the Peconic Estuary,” Mr. Schneiderman said this week. “I would love to support the Peconic Estuary program. It’s a great use for the money.”