Smithtown's 2012 budget passes by default

Smithtown's 2012 budget took effect by default Sunday because the town board did not take a final vote on the $100.5-million spending plan before the state's Nov. 20 deadline.

Smithtown is one of three Long Island towns -- including Huntington and Riverhead -- where the town budget passed by default.

The Smithtown town board did not vote to adopt the budget at its meeting Thursday, and Supervisor Patrick Vecchio said Friday that he would not call a special meeting to take a vote.

"Technically, there's no need for a vote," Vecchio said.

Council members generally praised the budget, which will raise taxes 0.72 percent for the average home. The tax hike is within the state's new 2 percent cap on property tax levy increases.

Some councilmen said they did not call for a vote on the proposed budget because they intended to first make changes to it. But they said they lacked the information they believed they needed to alter the budget.

Councilmen Edward Wehrheim and Robert Creighton said they wanted to fill several vacant jobs -- including a fire marshal and three or four clerical positions -- but did not want to raise taxes to do so.

Wehrheim said he had asked town Comptroller John Morris to find out whether reserve funds could be used to fund the positions without jeopardizing the town's AA-1 bond rating.

Wehrheim said Morris did not respond to the request.

"We believe we should have gotten that information when we needed to have it," Wehrheim said. "I'm not happy about it."

Morris said that claim was "totally untrue." Morris said he discussed the matter with Wehrheim last week and explained how the positions could be paid for with reserve funds.

Vecchio stood by Morris and said council members should have directed their questions to the supervisor's office.

"No inquiries were made of me," Vecchio said. "There are no positions taken out of the budget . . . There were no vacant positions."

Vecchio added he was "absolutely, totally happy" with Morris, who is appointed by the supervisor.

Creighton and Wehrheim said they would seek to amend the budget to fund the positions next year.

"We can make adjustments," Creighton said.