Islip Town passes $253 million budget, boosts spending by 2.09%

Islip Town approved a $253,324,022 budget that would see a slight cut in town property taxes and boost spending by 2.09% next year.

The town board approved the budget at its board meeting Thursday. Each home is expected to see a $4 drop in the total tax levy, or a 0.77% decrease. The new operating budget doesn’t cut any services, staff or programs, Supervisor Angie Carpenter announced at the meeting.

"We strive to tighten department budgets as necessary, making certain that each and every taxpayer dollar spent is done with the utmost scrutiny," Carpenter said in a news release.

Comptroller Joe Ludwig, who helps craft the town’s budget, described it as "difficult and easy at the same time" to plan because of the ongoing pandemic.

"They understood, going into '22, we don’t know what we’re dealing with," Ludwig said of the commissioners. "'22 will hopefully be a normalized year."

The new budget sees a $3.5 million spike in trash collection contracts, which expired this year and run on multiyear cycles. The money earmarked for garbage comes from a nearly 30% increase in collection across the town, likely due to people being home more because of the pandemic, Carpenter said.

The rising cost for trash collection isn’t unique to Islip. Other municipalities are seeing an increase as well, Ludwig told the board.

Islip Town is set to receive a total of $47.5 million in funding from the federal government in pandemic stimulus funds. The influx of money boosted the town’s capital budget for 2022.

The first half was doled out in August and the rest will be given to the town in August 2022. However, this funding can’t be used for the town’s operating budget, Ludwig said. It’s intended for capital improvement projects, but some details on how the funds can be spent remain murky, Carpenter said.

"That money has to be spent on projects, capital-wise," Ludwig told the council.

The trove of money paired with the town’s Triple A bond rating creates "the perfect storm for us to be doing some really, really needed capital improvements," Carpenter said. Specific projects weren’t spelled out, and Carpenter said the town is being conservative with its spending to ensure it is spent correctly.