Challenger top vote-getter in Ocean Beach

In the race to fill two seats on the Ocean Beach Village board of trustees, the winners are an incumbent and a challenger.

Political newcomer Matthew Blake, 33, got the most votes -- 241 -- and incumbent Greg Pace, 41, received 180, said Village Administrator Steven Brautigam.

The pair beat incumbent Ken Klein, 72, and challenger Judy Steinman, 70.

They were vying for two four-year terms in a vote held between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. Friday. Turnout was around 59 percent among the roughly 650 registered voters, Brautigam said.

Known as the unofficial capital of Fire Island, Ocean Beach is made up of seasonal homeowners, year-round residents and commercial property owners. In summer, hordes of daytrippers come over by ferry.

The five-member board led by Mayor James Mallott, owner of the Albatross bar and restaurant, recently passed a $5.5-million budget that brought a 9.7 percent property tax increase. Klein, who could not be reached for comment, was the sole board member to vote against it.

Resident Glenn Conway, 60, a retired part-time resident, said Friday's election marked the first time in around 20 years he'd voted -- and he also submitted three absentee votes on behalf of his wife and children aged 25 and 32. "I voted because we have an exploding budget, our taxes have risen by double digits in the past three years and we can't afford it," he said.

Year-round resident Dana Wallace, a real estate broker, described a community divide that may have motivated villagers. "There's this running tension between residents who have a commercial interest in the village and benefit from daytrippers and those who are largely second homeowners and don't."

Steinman, a year-round resident, acknowledged she failed to win business support, but said homeowners pay the bulk of taxes yet relatively few could vote -- some were not state residents, others because doing so would mean forfeiting a vote in school board elections on the mainland, while many lived in rent-stabilized apartments that are their primary voting residence elsewhere.

Of the village's challenges, daytrippers loom large, she said. "They make a mess and really don't contribute much to the village. They bring their own food in and eat or drink on the beach in violation of village laws, they overtax our lifeguards and we feel exploited because we're left to pay the bill."

Both Pace and Blake, a bank analyst for the Federal Reserve, agreed daytrippers are an issue but disagreed their support came from commercial interests only. Blake said voters wanted sound financial management.

"The village has infrastructure that needs repair," he said. "People are looking to leadership that can cut across boundaries fractured between the homeowners and those with commercial interests."