Riverhead Town pitches $120.9M budget that stays under tax cap

Riverhead Supervisor Jerry Halpin unveiled a $120.9 million operating budget for 2027 that would stay within the state tax cap for the first time in four years.

Under the tentative budget, spending in three townwide funds would rise to $81.2 million, a 4.2% increase. Those are the general, highway and street lighting funds.

The townwide tax levy for those funds is set to go up 2.8%, to $62.9 million, according to the proposal released at a special meeting on Thursday. For an average home with an assessed market value of $800,000, the tax increase is estimated at $101 for the year, according to town Financial Administrator Jeanette DiPaola.

Halpin said officials were able to stay within the cap by relying less on surplus funding and through an employee retirement incentive. DiPaola said the incentive resulted in $819,000 in general fund savings for next year. Halpin also aimed to boost staff retention by adding to the budget promotions and raises for a mix of positions.

“I felt strongly about that because I’ve heard … our department heads talking about people either leaving an interview because the pay is not high enough, or coming on the job and quickly going somewhere else, like immediately after seeing their check,” Halpin said Thursday.

In July, the town board agreed to offer a voluntary retirement incentive to employees after finance officials discovered $5 million in surplus.

Ten employees, including three Civil Service workers and seven members of the police department, opted in to the incentive. The retirements will save the town $746,000 in salaries and $341,000 in state retirement contributions. DiPaola said the savings are partially offset by $268,000 in retiree health insurance costs. The town is "still paying the insurance to replace the position that we’re filling,” DiPaola said Thursday, adding all replacement roles are budgeted for.

No raises for elected officials

Under the incentive, Civil Service Employees Association workers each received a $12,500 lump sum payment and typical contractual severance benefits, according to town documents. Police department members who retired under the program received lump sum payments of $1,000 for each year of service and up to 30 days of accrued sick time.

Halpin’s proposal does not include raises for elected officials, though a fringe benefit is projected to rise from $9,974 to $10,321 for the supervisor and from $5,984 to $6,193 for other elected officials.

Halpin, an independent elected to a one-year term on the Democratic line last year, cut his salary from the budgeted $118,919 to $110,000 and declined to accept the fringe benefit. Halpin said in an interview Friday that if reelected, he would keep his salary flat at $110,000 and again decline the fringe benefit.

Councilman Ken Rothwell, a Republican challenging Halpin, said he would not advocate for salary increases for town board members, but said other elected officials should be considered.

“The other elected officials that do full-time positions here, this is their sole source of revenue,” he said after Thursday’s meeting. “Everybody deserves a cost-of-living increase.”

Raises detailed

Under the proposal, 64 employees would move up two salary steps in the senior, highway, and buildings and grounds departments. That accounts for a portion of 76 merit raises, nine promotional raises, six new full-time and two new part-time positions.

The six positions include a maintenance mechanic, automotive equipment operator, building inspector, clerk, office assistant and fire marshal, DiPaola said.

After a previous administration reduced the tax levy in 2022, Riverhead has pierced the cap each year from 2023 to 2026, citing rising employee insurance and pension costs and efforts to hire more police officers.

Rothwell said he and fellow Republican council members would search for more savings.

“We're going to comb through it carefully, and probably at this point present our own budget for review at a lesser impact to the taxpayers,” he said.

The town board will continue reviewing the budget before approving a final spending plan, which is subject to a public hearing. The deadline to adopt a budget is Nov. 20.