After a contentious budget process in the midst of an election, the Southampton Town Board adopted the final 2010 budget on Friday, November 20. Despite revisions to the fiscal plan, the board is still increasing the tax rate by a full five percent. A homeowner, with a property assessed at $500,000, will pay an additional $33 in town taxes next year, or $1.38 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. In 2009, the tax rate was $1.32 for every $1,000 of property value. The overall spending for the town in 2010 remains at around $78.8 million.

Above: Supervisor-elect Anna Throne-Holst and current supervisor Linda Kabot mull over the 2010 budget plan for Southampton Town.

As a last order of major business for supervisor Linda Kabot, she presented a preliminary 2010 budget in late September. The plan was widely debated throughout town hall as it called for 48 lay offs and privatizing the animal shelter; though Kabot said she had found a way to clear the deficits in the highway and police fund.

The board received the most criticism over staffing cuts from union members and community constituents, and have since decided to maintain several positions. Overall, 37 positions were cut, but 11 of these jobs were already vacant, 10 positions were related to the animal shelter and five staff members will likely accept a retirement incentive.

The adopted 2010 budget notably reinstates the transportation and traffic safety director, a community service aide in the senior service department, the assistant director of the youth bureau, a youth counselor, and five sanitation helpers and one scale operator in the Waste Management Division. Others, however, didn’t fair as well in the final round of budget talks. The grant analyst was eliminated, as was the building projects coordinator due to a reshuffling of the department of public works. The supervisor-elect Anna Throne-Holst will realize around $90,000 in savings from eliminating two positions in the supervisor’s officer. One of these positions, that of citizen advocate, however, was simply transferred from the supervisor’s office to the council office in a measure sponsored by Kabot.

A resolution backed by councilwoman Throne-Holst, councilwoman Nancy Graboski and councilwoman Sally Pope might signal the exit of current town attorney Dan Adams in the coming year. The amendment proposed that deputy town attorney Kathleen Murray will “serve as the acting town attorney during a transition period” over the first six months of 2010.

The board was able to save several positions mainly through reducing the monies allotted for deficit reduction in the highway and e-911 fund, increasing estimates for revenues like building permit fees and raising the Cablevision franchise fee from four to five percent, among other measures.

In the 2010 budget, the town has set aside around $2.8 million to pay down past deficits. Comptroller Tamara Wright warned, “The $2.8 million does not address the capital fund IOU. This isn’t really enough money to make a big dent in your deficits … Your financial health includes your cash balance and there isn’t a great deal of room to be off in your revenue estimates.”

The capital fund deficit, estimated at around $6 million, wasn’t directly addressed in the operating budget for next year but the town board has several options in dealing with this sizable debt. Kabot lobbied to pierce the five percent tax rate cap solely to handle these deficits, not new spending; but her resolution was voted down by Throne-Holst, councilman Chris Nuzzi and Pope. The town also has the option of surplusing, or selling off, certain properties next year, another idea proposed by Kabot. Or, the town could pay the capital fund debt through deficit financing, though Kabot argued the state would then have greater oversight into the town’s finances and deficit financing could potentially weaken the town’s credit rating.

“We still don’t have the final numbers. I would leave this aside for the moment and deal with it when we have these numbers,” suggested Throne-Holst.

In other measures, the town tabled a resolution to take out a $275,000 bond for a video arraignment system, decided to fund a total of seven board members of the Zoning Board of Appeals and maintained a hiring freeze.

Popularity: 2% [?]

According to Southampton Town supervisor Linda Kabot and comptroller Tamara Wright, the capital fund deficit from 2003 through 2007 is likely lower than originally estimated by the town’s external auditors FTI consulting. FTI presented their preliminary findings to the board in an executive session on October 13. In the report — a status update on a forensic audit of the fund which was being withheld from the press but was reviewed by The Express — the company estimated that approximately $21 million in direct appropriations were never moved into the capital fund from 2003 through 2007, meaning money that was appropriated for this fund was never put into the fund’s account.

The auditors also noted that nearly $11.25 million in approved town board funding from the general fund, or monies for general town operations, wasn’t transferred into the capital fund which created inaccuracies in the general fund balance sheets. FTI further concluded that only $7.4 million worth of transfers were correctly recorded during this time period. After vetting these numbers with Wright and the board in the last couple of weeks, however, town officials say the actual deficit figures are drastically different than what was first presented by FTI.

According to totals revealed by Kabot at a town board meeting on Tuesday night, the actual amount of failed transfers, or bookkeeping errors, into the capital fund is about $13.2 million from 2003 to 2007. Of these monies approved to be transferred into the fund, only $5.3 million were actually spent during this time,  said Kabot.

Wright corroborated these tallies. She added that the town discovered nearly $8 million that was used to fund a road reconstruction project from 2003 to 2006. The money for the project was slated to be moved from the highway operating fund to the capital fund, however, the transfer was never completed and the project was financed out of the highway fund. This discovery decreased the amount due to the capital fund from $21 million to $13.2 million, said Wright. In addition, FTI said close to $4.6 million in failed direct appropriations were also conducted in 2008, but Wright expects these numbers to significantly decrease as the 2008 audit is fully completed over the week.

Although the board is still awaiting final numbers from 2008, Kabot estimated in a later interview that the total amount the town needs to pay off past capital fund deficits is between $5.75 million to $6 million. Wright said she couldn’t confirm Kabot’s numbers and added that the town should have completed 2008 figures by next week.

These preliminary findings by FTI were presented in executive session, said Kabot, because the board is still deliberating over suing their former auditors AVZ, or Albrecht, Viggiano and Zureck. The town fired the auditing firm in June and later hired Nawrocki Smith, LLP. AVZ worked as the town’s external auditors from 2004 to 2007, when several accounting errors occurred within the town’s capital fund, causing an overstatement of the town’s general fund by around $8 million. When completing their audits for the town, AVZ failed to notice discrepancies in the general fund and the capital fund.

Asked if AVZ committed illegal acts against the town, Kabot said “that is the debate that is under review in executive session. AVZ didn’t do something illegal but they didn’t complete [their work] with due diligence  …They gave the town a clean bill of heath. I believe that is a breach of contract.”

FTI, however, advised the town against pursuing legal action. Kabot added that the board took an informal vote in executive session and she claimed three council members, Chris Nuzzi, Throne-Holst and Pope, voted against suing AVZ.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the board appeared divided on how to finance these existing debts in the capital fund. Kabot proposed a five-year pay off plan. In the first year, the town would sell municipal properties that weren’t purchased through community preservation funds. Over the following four years, the taxpayers would foot the bill for the rest of the deficit, which might necessitate piercing the five percent tax rate increase cap, noted Kabot at the meeting.

Councilwoman Anna Throne-Holst argued the town shouldn’t rely on selling these properties as the local real estate market is floundering.

“There are still large amounts of money that have not been accounted for …  the bottom line isn’t there,” added Throne-Holst.

During a later interview, councilwoman Sally Pope said it has been difficult to craft a 2010 budget without final numbers, and said the budget might need to be amended at a later date after it is adopted on November 20.

Popularity: 1% [?]

In the middle of the worst recession in more than a half century, Southampton Town Supervisor Linda Kabot brought her election-year budget message to Noyac on Tuesday evening, and explained to the community’s civic council that her fiscal plan takes some drastic measures — especially in its effort to make up millions from a deficit resulting from poor bookkeeping.

The result, she said, was that projects, like the long-awaited Noyac community center, have had to be put on hold, as the town simply does not have the money to pay for them.

“You can’t just float a bond for something like that,” Kabot told the members of the civic council at their regularly monthly meeting. “It’s like having a mortgage. It costs you more in your operating budget.”

The budget, claims Kabot, will eliminate deficits in the major funds of the general operating budget. The current budget has a deficit of about $7.5 million she said.

Those savings come at a price, however, and, if adopted, among the casualties will be 48 jobs, programs like the town’s animal shelter and the curtailing of some operations such as limiting the hours for two of the town’s waste transfer stations. Interestingly the supervisor noted Sag Harbor’s transfer station is the busiest and most profitable of the town’s four stations.

“It’s apparently the place where people go to meet and greet each other; not the post office,” she observed.

 The town got into trouble, primarily, during the years 2004-2006, claimed Kabot, when the bookkeeping office failed to move cash from one fund to another. After the board had approved the transfer of money to pay for a particular project, said Kabot, the money was never actually transferred from the general fund to the project’s fund.

“It appeared like we had a big fat fund balance,” said Kabot, “and meanwhile the money had already been spoken for.”

Eventually, the money believed to be in the fund balance was used to reduce the tax burden in subsequent budgets, to keep the tax rate down.

Projects that were supposed to be funded included such things as the Noyac community center and a new guard rail for Noyac Road by Trout Pond, which was actually installed this year.

While she argues the proposed budget will satisfy its deficit, Kabot said she is facing a challenge from the town’s police department, which is asking for a 4.5 percent raise. At present, she said, about 90 percent of the town’s police force is compensated at $185,000 a year, and after four years an officer is earning over $100,000. About one-third of the force is retirement eligible with full benefits. Kabot said her offer of a 2 percent raise was rebuffed by the town’s PBA.

“How do you stop this,” asked a man in the audience.

“I need people to stand up for the taxpayer,” replied Kabot.

Kabot said all is not grim for those in Noyac.

“The commitment is there for Noyac,” she said, “but we might have to pull back on some of the aesthetics you might have enjoyed.

In particular, she said the town will go ahead with a traffic calming project for Noyac Road in front of The Whalenbone and Cromer’s Market. A raised median had originally been proposed, but the project ran into a lot of criticism from the neighboring business owners who felt a structure would restrict some vehicles from pulling into the parking lot.

Instead, it will be done with a painted median, pulling the roadway further away from the parking area, and result in using some of the land on the south side of the road across from the parking lot. While she had hoped to have the work done this fall, it will have to wait to the spring.

“It’s work that has to be done. It’s like the wild west there,” she said.

But aside from the aforementioned guard rail (which cost $119,000), there was little the town was set to do for Noyac. Kabot said they were hiring a consultant at about to plan the clearing and re-vegetation of the area around the waterfall by Trout Pond, and said a project to install drainage at Bittersweet Lane was et to go this week until they found out it was a private road not maintained by the town. They are currently working with counsel to secure an easement to do the work, but in the meantime that money was diverted to do drainage at Otter Pond in Sag Harbor.

Kabot said the town will install four more speed monitors along Noyac Road in an effort to slow traffic.

“You’ll increase the monitors, but how will you enforce it,” asked council member Dorothy Frankel.

“I’m going to send a memo to the police and say people here need protection,” said Kabot. “This is a dangerous road.”

Popularity: 1% [?]

Despite being arrested in the early morning hours of Labor Day, Southampton Town Supervisor Linda Kabot was back to business at a Tuesday board meeting in town hall. A News Channel 12 cameraman was noticably standing on the sidelines in the hopes of getting an on-air qoute from Kabot, who was charged with driving while intoxicated on Monday. However, Kabot didn’t break from her formal exterior and not a word was spoken by members of the public nor the town board about the incident.
In a statement released earlier in the week, Kabot said: “I am addressing this personal matter with my attorney through the appropriate legal channels. Please respect my privacy. Let the process run its course. I will not only have to vigorously defend against these charges in court, but also now must continue to defend my character and credibility as a public official.”
According to reports from Westhampton Beach Village Police, Kabot, 41, was seen crossing the double yellow line prior to making a left hand turn onto Main Street in Westhampton in her 2006 Gray Toyota on Monday, September 7, at around 12:25 a.m. Upon an interview, Kabot’s eyes were allegedly red and glassy and police claim her breath smelled strongly of an alcoholic beverage. Police say Kabot failed all standard field sobriety tests, refused to sumbit to a pre-screen breath test and also refused an intoxilyzer test to determine her blood alcohol content.
John Penrose, 38, of Westhampton was arrested at the same location at around 12:29 a.m. for disorderly conduct, a violation, for interfering in a DWI investigation. Detective Edwin Hamor, however, couldn’t substantiate if Penrose was directly interfering with Kabot’s arrest.
Kabot was transferred to the Quogue Village Police Department because the Westhampton Beach Village Police Department doesn’t have holding cells. That morning, on Monday, Kabot was escorted to her arraignment at the Westhampton Beach Village Justice Court at around 9:10 a.m. Judge Robert Kelly, Jr., presided over the proceedings. During the arraignment, Kabot’s license was suspended but she entered a plea of not guilty to the DWI charges. Kabot is expected to appear next in court on Wednesday, September 30, at 1 p.m.
Kabot’s lawyer, James McManmon of Riverhead, declined to answer questions and said, “The matter is still under investigation and I am not going to make any statements to the press. That is my policy in this matter.”
Kabot is a born and bred Southampton Town resident, who graduated from Westhampton Beach Schools. After attending Hobart and William Smith Colleges, she returned home to the East End to try her hand in public service, a field she has worked in for the last 13 years. Kabot first served as the executive assistant to former town supervisor Vincent Cannuscio for six years before being elected to the town board. Kabot was a town councilwoman for the following six years.
In 2007, she hit the campaign trail going toe to toe with former town supervisor Patrick “Skip” Heaney, but by September of that year Kabot secured the Republican Party nomination for supervisor and by November she had won the four-way race. Kabot was sworn into office in January of 2008, becoming the first Republican female supervisor in Southampton Town history and was the first woman to nab the position in over two decades.
Kabot boasts an illustrious resume, but the last year of her career has been a bumpy ride for the supervisor. Ealier in 2009, the town discovered several years worth of substantial accounting errors and faced serious budgetary issues as a result of the recession. This November, Kabot is seeking re-election to her post. She failed to receive backing from the Integrity Party and the Southampton Town Conservative Committee, but is on the Republican line. She and is being challenged by current councilwoman Anna Throne-Holst.

Popularity: 2% [?]

A rededication ceremony was held at the Beebe Windmill on Ocean Rd. in Bridgehampton this past weekend to mark the completion of major repairs made to the historic structure. The Town of Southampton allocated funds to ensure the preservation of the landmark, and work that included recreating the sails, replacing the rotted main beams, reconstructing the fantail, and replacing exterior shingles began in 2007. Noted restoration expert Robert Hefner monitored the project and Richard Ward Baxter, a highly skilled artisan with experience in historic renovations, and his crew completed the work. 

The windmill was built in 1820 by Samuel Schellinger in Sag Harbor for Captain Lester Beebe, a retired whaling captain and shipbuilder. It was sold and relocated several times until 1914 when it was acquired by John E. Berwind and moved to his estate in Bridgehampton. His widow bequeathed the windmill to the Town of Southampton in memory of her husband, and it continues to stand on the Berwind Memorial Green on Ocean Road. The building has become a local landmark, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.  

“This windmill is part of our roots and history on the East End and it is important that this structure be preserved for future generations to enjoy,” said Councilman Chris Nuzzi as he addressed town officials, representatives from the Bridgehampton Historical Society, Bridgehampton Village Improvement Society, and others who came out for the rededication ceremony. Superintendent of Parks, Allyn Jackson added, “the project took quite some time to complete, but I am very pleased with the results.”

Popularity: unranked [?]

In a stunning turn of events, the Southampton Town Conservative Committee announced on Friday, July 24, that it wouldn’t back current town surpervisor Linda Kabot in her bid for reelection. The group had previously supported Jim Malone as their pick for supervisor, but last week Malone opted to run for a town council seat instead.
“After careful consideration we concluded we did not have a viable second choice after Jim [Malone] decided to step aside. Unlike the GOP who had a back up with Republican Supervisor Linda Kabot, we did not have another Conservative in the wings that we could put forward. Looking across the political spectrum we did not see another candidate we were comfortable extending the privilege of our Wilson Pikula to,” said Susan Heckman, the party treasurer, in a press release distributed on Friday.
Kabot will still have the nod of the town’s GOP, but of the loss of the Conservative Committee nod she said in a release on Sunday, July 26, “I do not know who is calling the shots behind the scenes, but I know it is not the Suffolk County Conservative Chair Ed Walsh in this instance. I have my suspicions that Republican Committee Chairman Marcus Stinchi and former Town Supervisor Skip Heaney have a hand in this high stakes poker game and the obvious delay tactics. This is disappointing and very telling. In politics, one must always watch one’s back and also be prepared to counter-act such political maneuvers.”
Only last Monday, Kabot announced securing both the Republican and Conservative nominations for the general elections in November. It appeared the parties reshuffled their ballots in order to circumvent a primary between Malone and Kabot. In a recent statement released by Kabot, she asserts that Malone failed to file the necessary paperwork with the Suffolk County Board of Elections in time for Kabot to receive the supervisor nomination of the Conservative Party.
“I began smelling a rat when there were several unanswered phone calls and emails to Jim Malone over the course of July 22 and 23,” stated Kabot in the release.

Heckman noted that Jim Malone is the Chairman of the party, but took a leave of absence from the position when he first announced his intent to run for the supervisor position.
“As such [Malone] was neither part of these deliberations or the vote of the executive committee to not fill this vacancy,” contended Heckman.
“We are happy to see that a needless and costly Republican primary has been avoided. Most importantly we are thrilled to see that Councilman Chris Nuzzi and now Council candidate Jim Malone will have the opportunity to run on the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines,” reported Heckman.
Kabot, however, called the move a “betrayal of trust” and said, “Trust, honesty and communication are key to ensure teamwork and a united front.”

Popularity: unranked [?]

The Southampton Town Republican Committee is poised to formally announce that Linda Kabot will head up their ticket this November. At its convention last month, Kabot, the incumbent town supervisor, was put aside by the local GOP in favor of James Malone.

But in an effort to avoid a primary Kabot had threatened to wage, the GOP hierarchy this week instead reached an agreement with the incumbent’s campaign to move Malone into the town council race, opening up the supervisor’s nomination to Kabot.

The move put newcomer Bill Wright — the party’s original choice for one of two available council seats — out of the running. Malone will be joined in the race by incumbent councilman Chris Nuzzi.

“History has shown it has not typically been the Democrats that have defeated local Republican campaigns for town office”, said Southampton Republican Committee Chairman Marcus Stinchi, “rather we have defeated ourselves with costly primary fights that have left our party divided in the November elections and more often than not with multiple Republican candidates on different lines dividing the electorate. We saw most recently in 2007 that two Republican candidates for supervisor garnered over 65% of the vote with similar results at the town board level only to lose a town board seat. A similar situation occurred in 1999.”

“At the end of the day”, continued Stinchi, “between the two potential campaigns we collected over 2,000 signatures and this agreement to allow Supervisor Kabot to seek re-election on the Republican line and Jim Malone moving over to run with Chris Nuzzi for the two town council seats, allows for all of these Republican signatories to not be disenfranchised and gives us the best chance to retain a majority on the town board which would be consistent with what has been typically expressed at the polls in the general elections.”

 “I was excited to learn yesterday that political leaders have come to realize that greater success can be achieved by joining forces and coming together,” said Kabot in a press release issued today, Tuesday, July 21. “Along my journey in politics, I have learned that it is necessary to re-adapt to changes and to embrace opportunities to move forward towards a brighter future.”

The three, all running on the Republican and Conservative party lines, will face a challenge by the Democratic-endorsed Anna Throne-Holst for supervisor, presently an independent town council member, and Sally Pope and Brigid Fleming for the two available town council seats. Pope is currently filling a seat on the council that had been vacated by Kabot in 2007 when she was elected supervisor. The seat was originally given to Dan Russo, a Republican, by Kabot. Russo, however, lost the seat to Pope in an election last year.

“Everyone took the long road home,” said Kabot, “but we finally got here.” The incumbent supervisor had approached Malone on a prior occasion in April with the proposition of building a 2009 “Dream Team” with her and Councilman Chris Nuzzi, according to the release. However, in what Kabot’s release characterized as a power play, the local Republican Committee nominated Malone, who also serves as Southampton Town Conservative Party chairman. Kabot responded by gathering 825 Republican signatures to force a primary. She also filed an additional 119 signatures of Republican voters in order to challenge the party positions of top leaders, including that of GOP Chairman Marcus Stinchi, said the release.

Kabot credited Suffolk County Conservative Party Chairman Ed Walsh for making it happen. “He recognized Jim’s potential as a candidate to strengthen the ticket, as well as the qualities that would make him an asset to the Town Board.”

In addition to the change in town endorsements. it was announced that Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman would be re-nominated as the Republican and Conservative candidate, adding to endorsements by his own Independence Party, and the Working Families Party.

 “It has been said that it is best to unite and lead and those are the watchwords to the wise,” concluded Kabot.

A news conference detailing the day’s changes is expected to occur later this week. 

Top: Linda Kabot (right) will face Anna Throne-Holst (left) in November’s election for Southampton Town supervisor.

Popularity: unranked [?]

FTI Consultants, a firm hired by Southampton Town, has finally completed a forensic audit of the town’s police fund and the firm presented their astonishing findings at a town work session on Friday, July 17. Brian Ong, speaking on behalf of FTI, enumerated the myriad ways mismanagement of the town’s police fund monies lead to a near $4.6 million dollar deficit at the close of 2007. However, the silver lining to the team’s audit was a list of recommendations for the town moving forward, many of which have already been undertaken by the town to clean up their accounting practices.

FTI’s forensic audit analyzed the police fund from January 1, 2003 through December 31, 2007. Ong and his team spent several months interviewing town employees and wading through electronic records of the town’s financial documents. FTI hoped to piece together the town’s complicated accounting practices from this time period and unearth the cause of the fund’s staggering deficit.

At the start of 2003, the town’s police fund was enjoying a healthy fund balance of a little over $3 million. Due to unexpected and unbudgeted Patrolman Benevolent Association (PBA) settlements, normal and disability retirements, over allocation of police expenditures and other budgetary variances the fund balance was not only whittled away to nothing, but by the close of 2007 the police fund was in the red. Between 2003 and 2007, the town’s police fund overspent by around $8 million, though the fund’s surplus was used to augment this figure. In 2003 and again in 2005, the town paid around $2.5 million, in total, for retroactive PBA contract settlements, which Ong pointed out contributed to a substantial amount of the overspending in the police fund.

“Additionally, we noted issues caused by unanticipated retirements, unanticipated normal retirements as well as disability retirements. Each of which resulted in lump sum distributions of severance which were not budgeted for at adequate levels,” added Ong.

Beginning in 2003, the police fund operated at a deficit, yet taxes in the town’s police districts weren’t levied to pay off these responsibilities. According to Wright, the town raised taxes just enough to maintain operations, though not to address the fund’s indebtedness. Furthermore, new tax monies, added supervisor Linda Kabot, were sometimes used for the incorrect budgetary year, consequently masking the actual deficit of the fund.

“Money was coming in from property taxes and so forth, and it was really earmarked for next year’s budget but was being used for the current budget in order to make payroll, etc.,” explained Kabot.

Ong added that over-allocation of police expenditures further exacerbated the police fund’s predicament. According to Wright, certain expenses, such as dental insurance, optical insurance, and workman’s compensation was erroneously charged to the police fund, when it should have been charged to other town funds. Another facet of the over-allocations were certain expenses that were charged in 2007, when they should have been charged in 2008.

However, between 2003 to 2007, to help make the police fund whole at year’s end and continue operations, the town often loaned money from one fund, primarily the general fund, to the police fund which the town refers to as an interfund loan. Under state law, interfund loans must be paid back to the lending fund within a year’s time, and if the loan isn’t paid back after a year the loan begins to accrue interest.

“Some years these loans would be paid back with the new tax money, so technically the loans weren’t outstanding. However, the taxes weren’t budgeted for that,” pointed out Wright, who added that during her research she found that once the police fund was low on money a loan would often be given.

The previous town board, however, didn’t sign off on these interfund loans. Instead, noted Kabot, the function of giving out interfund loans was under the purview of the comptroller’s office. Ong said he wasn’t aware of a law, which prohibits this practice, but said it is a good management policy to make town board members aware of interfund loans.

Going forward, Kabot said it was necessary for the town to draft a repayment schedule for the police fund.

According to Wright, the town has already implemented procedural changes to circumvent a deficit of the police fund in the future. Wright said the town has improved digital financial accounting and enacted a new system by which to manage separate accounts for a particular fund. Earlier this week, Kabot presented a draft law mandating the town board to pass interfund loans by way of resolutions.

Popularity: unranked [?]

In the wake of discovering numerous accounting blunders dating back several years, the current Southampton Town Board hopes to wipe the slate clean for the town by tightening accounting controls and procedures for the future. The town’s present financial predicament stems from two main procedural oversights. Firstly, beginning in 2003, the town doled out a number of interfund loans from the general fund to other funds, like the police, waste management and highway fund, making sure these departments wouldn’t end up in the red at year’s end.

However, at a work session on Tuesday, July 21, comptroller Tamara Wright explained state law dictates an interfund loan cannot be extended for more than a year, meaning the loan must be paid back to the lending fund within a year’s time. In the instance where an interfund loan isn’t repaid within a year, the loan begins to accrue interest. The town’s failure to rectify these interfund loans resulted in several million dollars worth of indebtedness to the general fund.

The second major accounting error on the part of the town was the incomplete transfers from the general fund to the capital fund. A transfer, Wright pointed out at the work session, isn’t a loan and is simply a transference of money from one fund to another. However, beginning in 2004, previous town boards resolved to give a certain amount of money by way of direct appropriations, or direct cash transfers, from the general fund to the capital fund for various capital projects. Several of these transfers, however, were posted to have taken place on the town’s accounting database, but in fact the money wasn’t moved and remained in the general fund.

In order to prevent future town boards from repeating the mistakes of the past, supervisor Linda Kabot presented a draft law directly targeting these kinds of accounting errors.

“It is my belief that interfund loans should be done by town board resolution,” declared Kabot at the work session, detailing the first provision of her proposed law. In 2008, the town first implemented this policy, however, Kabot wishes to make this policy a law on the town books.

“This is an example of administrative policy, but I want to take it from policy to code amendment,” she said.

In addition, the comptroller would need to provide the town board with an annual or semi-annual report on all interfund loans throughout the town, specifying the lending fund and the receiving fund, the original loan amount, and the amount still owed on the loan at the close of the year.

To combat the second accounting problem revealed by the current town board, Kabot seeks to create an annual interfund transfer report. The comptroller would compile the report and distribute it to the town board.

Similar to the interfund loans report, the interfund transfer report indicates “the revenue source district/fund and receiving district/fund and the town board resolution authorizing the transaction.” Interfund transfers will also appear on the town’s annual operating budget and the funding source for each project will be specified.

Councilwoman Anna Throne-Holst, however, wished to take the tracking of available balances and spending for capital projects one step further.

“I want that level of recording and tracking as the project or funding is allocated and as that project proceeds forward, so the town board can always refer back to that to see where the cash lies,” said Throne-Holst. She would like to see information dispersed to the board on the cash available for the projects, how much has already been spent on them and if the full amount allocated for the project wasn’t used in its entirety.

Kabot suggested the town publish an additional report to include this information and said it would give the town an easy “opportunity to recoup money” that wasn’t spent.

In addition to these measures, under the draft law the comptroller would release a report on the “Authorized, Unissued Bonds.” Currently, the town has approximately $19 million in authorized, but as of yet, unissued bonds.

The draft law is still pending validation from the town attorney and it will also be put through the ringer of public hearings.

“I want to show that the board is moving proactively to manage our financial turmoil,” maintained Kabot. “This will lead to greater town board oversight.”

Popularity: unranked [?]

To the average Southampton Town resident, trash is a topic given little thought. Many locals choose to bag their household waste and leave it on the corner of their properties for a private waste hauling company to pick up and cart away. Others participate in the town’s “green bag” system and bring their trash to one of the town’s four dumps, or waste stations. Once those trash bags travel down the chute or are thrown into the back of a truck, the Southampton Town resident’s role in disposing of their household waste is done.

For members of the town board, however, how best to manage the town’s waste is a subject of lively debate. Since last year, the board has explored the idea of privatizing waste management operations, or in other words hiring a private company to run the town’s trash disposal service. Privatization could be the key to lowering costs associated with the town program and ease its deficit. However, some members of the board are weary of the plan and believe privatization might fail to accomplish this goal.

In December of 2008, the town hired Cashin Associates, a business consulting firm, to conduct a comprehensive study on current operations of the town’s waste management system and the viability of hiring a private company to take over the reigns of this town service.

“Historically, the town has run its [waste management] operations as a traditional governmental service rather than as a business that must balance its costs and revenues. This approach, in conjunction with providing a high level of service for a relatively limited number of users, has contributed to operational inefficiencies and a general imbalance of income and expenditures within the Department,” wrote the consulting firm in its opening comments. At a work session held Friday, July 10, members of the board estimated the department’s deficit at around $2.8 million, but comptroller Tamara Wright added that this figure was based on unaudited financials. Kabot added that the town is waiting for the year end 2008 numbers, but said “waste management is in deficit condition.”

Based on Cashin’s analysis, around 11 to 14 percent of the town population use the town’s waste stations, however, councilman Chris Nuzzi argued these figures were debatable. Although the number of participating locals may be small, the costs savings are substantial for residents who take advantage of the program. Cashin estimated the average household paid $215 annually for disposal of their household trash at the town waste site. The average annual price for a private trash hauling company was estimated at $521. However, larger families who live farther from waste stations see only 17 percent savings compared to private hauling services.

In recent years, the town has experienced success with its green bag and bulk waste program. Cashin estimated this leg of the waste management program garners an annual revenue of around $819,000, while the expenditure for the green bag and bulk waste service is approximately $790,000. In addition to positive revenues for these particular services, the waste management department has also worked to cut down on expenses. Closing the Westhampton and Sag Harbor stations one day per week has helped lessen costs.

However, Cashin claims the amount of waste disposed at a town facility steadily decreased from 2004 through 2008. They pointed out that the department has almost 25 employees and over the next eight years will need to pay around $4,000,000 for new equipment and vehicles.

Based on their findings, Cashin advised the town to issue request for proposals, or RFPs, “to gauge vendor interest in taking over transfer station operations, handling transport and disposal of most of its solid waste stream.”

Cashin theorized the town could potentially save money by leasing or selling their equipment. The report added that based on prevailing New York State wages, a private contractor could potentially pay around 10 percent less than the town for labor and staffing.

“In recent years, Southampton had experienced a marked improvement in its overall solid waste management operations, including and especially control of labor costs, better tracking of expenses and interdepartmental charges, and phased upgrades to the North Sea Transfer station …,” the report determined. “[T]his study found that the town-run transport and private disposal of green bag and bulk waste currently costs the town approximately $141 [per ton]. This number is substantially higher than what most other Long Island municipalities pay for similar service. Therefore the major recommendation of this Privatization Study is the town of Southampton issue a request for proposals RFP.”

Both Nuzzi and town councilwoman Anna Throne-Holst were reluctant to entertain bids from private companies before the town receives fully completed and solid figures on the waste management’s financial status.

“I still have a lot of analysis to do,” contended comptroller Wright.

Throne-Holst held firm on waiting for the financials before deciding to privatize the waste management program.

“We are having this discussion without the numbers,” argued Throne-Holst, and it appeared the board was at an impasse again on the viability of privatization.

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