Southampton could shrink 2 boards

In an effort to reduce spending in a year of budget tightening, the Southampton Town Board is considering reducing the size of the town's planning and zoning boards from seven members to five.

The cuts could save $60,000 to $100,000 a year, according to Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst, who said she "had mixed feelings" about the measure but added that meeting the state's new 2 percent cap on property tax increases requires considering such measures.

"None of these are things we want to do," Throne-Holst said. "All are ones we are doing under duress."

Towns are examining spending because of the tax cap, which follows years of budget cutting to hold down tax increases in a bad economy. Town budgets are due by Sept. 30.

A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for 6 p.m. Sept. 27 at Town Hall. The hearing will also consider lengthening the terms of board members, to five years from four.

Each member of the two boards receives an annual stipend: about $12,500 for the zoning board and $14,600 for the planning board. They're also eligible for health care insurance, although they pay 50 percent of the premiums.

When the two boards were formed in 1957, each had five members, according to Councilwoman Nancy Graboski. Before the size was increased to seven members in the mid-1990s, she said, the town put together a master plan and zoning provisions.

"Some critically important zoning [codes] were put in place with a five-member board," said Graboski, a former planning board member who proposed the reduction. "They were very effective."

Councilman Christopher Nuzzi, who proposed a similar reduction in 2009, said he favors the measure along with consideration of other areas where reductions can be made.

"Salary and benefits should be considered on all these boards, and in the town in general," he said.

In Suffolk, Brookhaven and Babylon have seven-member zoning boards, and Brookhaven, Islip, Babylon and East Hampton have seven-member planning boards. Zoning and planning boards in the other Suffolk towns have five members.