Brookhaven approves budget cuts

Brookhaven Town has approved a battery of budget cuts designed to fill a $2.9-million shortfall caused by the town’s loss of a permit to accept sludge at its Yaphank landfill.

The cuts, approved Tuesday night, include reducing funding for eight vacant positions. The town also trimmed the budget for its ampitheater at Bald Hill.

The town is also proposing a 1 percent budget cut to every town department, a measure that could be approved at a later town board meeting, Councilman Daniel Panico said.

“It’s a proposal we will pass out to each department to see what we can do,” he said.

The town will also draw money from a parks reserve fund.

Savings from recent worker buyouts and projected upticks in revenue from mortgage taxes, construction debris and recyclables will also help close the gap, town officials have said.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation last month took away the town’s sludge permit after students and teachers at a Bellport intermediate school were sickened by odors coming from the dump.

The town was scheduled to receive $2.9 million this year — and a total of $6.6 million in 2012 and 2013 — from contracts to accept sludge from New York City and other Long Island towns.