Riverhead Supervisor Jerry Halpin floats retirement incentive, faces backlash

Riverhead Supervisor Jerry Halpin wants to use up to $5 million in surplus funds to offer an early retirement incentive to town employees, but board members want more details about the fiscal impacts before approving the plan.

Halpin, an independent elected last year on the Democratic line, proposed the idea as a way to spend higher-than-anticipated revenue and investment gains to reduce payroll costs, offset tax increases and promote younger employees. Thirty-two employees could be eligible for the buyout across the Civil Service Employees Association, Police Benevolent Association and Superior Officers Association.

The town has pierced the state tax cap for four consecutive years. The incentive could result in up to a 3% reduction in the annual tax levy, Halpin said. But town council members, all of whom are Republicans, have criticized the proposal for lacking specifics and how it was rolled out.

“It increases potential tax savings for the residents for the next three to five years, and definitely in 2027, it will make a good impact,” Halpin said in an interview. In turn, he said, the town could offer junior employees raises to boost retention.

“We have such a high turnover rate, so I think this provides a whole host of opportunities for us as a town,” Halpin said.

Last year, Riverhead’s fund balance grew by $5 million, to $33.4 million, according to the town's 2025 financial report.

Jeanette DiPaola, the town’s financial administrator, attributed $1.4 million of that increase to higher interest earnings in 2025. The remainder is a mix of higher revenue and lower expenses in other areas, she said.

Finer details of the proposal, including what specifically the payment incentive would be, were not publicly disclosed during a May 28 work session. A list of eligible retirees and their salaries was also not released, since officials said the plan is still subject to negotiations with the town’s three labor unions.

DiPaola presented scenarios based on employee eligibility, including police officers who can retire after 20 years. Civil Service employees are eligible for retirement at age 55 with 30 years of service, age 60 with 25 years or age 65 with 20 years on the job.

“I have to admit, at first I was skeptical,” DiPaola said, until she crunched the numbers. “But anybody that takes it at this point is a savings to the budget for next year.”

Police officers at top pay would result in the greatest savings, according to her presentation. Those officers earn an annual salary of $152,901, plus 7% in longevity pay and 41.3% in pension contributions. Replacing that position with a first-year officer, who earns $72,067, and factoring in lower retirement costs, would save $96,259 annually, DiPaola said.

The average Civil Service employee retirement would save about $19,000, she said.

After holding discussions on the concept in two closed-door executive sessions, Halpin issued a news release last week and posted a video announcement on the town’s social media page calling for board members to consider the deal.

“We’re not putting blind trust in you,” Councilman Ken Rothwell, a Republican challenging Halpin for the supervisor seat in November, said. “You need to have the numbers.”

Councilwoman Denise Merrifield suggested there were better ways to spend the $5 million, including digitizing building department records and investing in parking enforcement, to generate revenue in future years.

Halpin said the long-term savings make his proposal worthwhile. “I don’t think it’s an 'either-or' here,” he said at the meeting. “It can actually be a ‘both’ situation.”

The spike in property taxes became a key issue among voters last fall, when Halpin narrowly defeated Republican Supervisor Tim Hubbard.

Board members agreed to review previous early retirement deals and analyze the numbers before deciding whether to advance negotiations with union leaders.