Taxes stay flat in town's proposed budget

Shelter Island finally has a proposed budget for 2012.

Supervisor James Dougherty -- in keeping with what has become an island tradition -- filed his proposed budget last Thursday, nearly four weeks later than any other town and 27 days after the state's filing deadline.

Still, it has one feature that likely will prove popular. It calls for no tax increase.

It is, in fact, precisely the same spending commitment as this year's budget -- $6,664,345. The tax rate remains $1.81436 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Because the island is so small -- the year-round population is only about 2,300 -- Shelter Island officials generally are reluctant to adopt a budget until they are comfortable with their tax base, since two or three successful tax grievances can change the rates for everyone.

Covering about 12 square miles, Shelter Island is Suffolk's most sparsely populated town, and the median home price is nearly $1 million. Recent real estate listings show homes for sale that range from $325,000 to $5 million. Many of its residents are retirees, and the median age on Shelter Island is about 10 years older than the state average.

Dougherty said he was "very proud" of the budget, in which he was able to find $25,000 to give a 2 percent pay hike to about three dozen nonunion town employees. "I went over it line by line. It was very hard work," he said.

Most other towns on Long Island kept tax increases under 2 percent when tentative budgets were filed at the end of September, although Riverhead and Southold had larger increases. And, unlike larger towns, Shelter Island could not cut its budget by eliminating unfilled jobs, because it has none.

Dougherty presented his tentative budget at a sparsely attended town board work session on Thursday.

The board will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget on Nov. 10 at 3:30 p.m. in Town Hall.

"If no one has any wild objections, we will adopt it," he said.

There was talk at the meeting over Dougherty's use of about $500,000 from the town reserve fund to hold down taxes, which he said was appropriate because of the sagging economy.

Under state law, a supervisor's tentative budget becomes the town budget unless it is changed by a vote of a town board. All town budgets must be filed with the secretary of state by Nov. 20.