Community Preservation Fund revenues collected for Riverhead Town fell nearly 16 percent in 2011, compared to 2010, according to data recently released by New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele.
Southampton was the only East End town to see year-to-year growth in CPF revenues collected, increasing 15.1 percent over 2010. The increase in Southampton offset declines in the other four towns, so that, regionally, revenues collected in 2011 were .1 percent highher than in 2010.
The fund, generated by a 2 percent tax on certain land transfers in the five East End towns, is dedicated by state law to the preservation of open space in the town in which the revenues are collected.
In the 2000s, Riverhead borrowed heavily against its anticipated CPF revenues, in order to make targeted acquisitions of land threatened by development. Annual CPF revenues would cover the town’s bonded indebtedness for the land acquisition program. By 2008, the town had issued bonds totalling more than $30 million to accomplish this goal. Then the financial crisis erupted and the real estate market tumbled — along with it, the CPF revenues collected by the town to pay the CPF debt.
In recent years, the town’s annual CPF revenues are half of what they were during the booming real estate market of the early-to-mid 2000s.
Unless there’s a drastic improvement, Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter warned fellow board members during budget discussions this year, CPF reserves set aside to pay the CPF debt service would be wiped out in 2013.
Real estate sales on the East End in 2011 were flat compared to 2010, according to George Simpson, president of Suffolk Research Service Inc. The 2011 numbers on median home sale prices, unit sales and dollar sales are up compared to 2008 and 2009, but show little or no improvement over 2010, Simpson said.
Since its inception in 1999, the Peconic Bay Regional Community Preservation Fund has generated more than $722 million for land preservation, Thiele said. A total of $58.85 million was collected for the CPF in 2010, compared to $58.78 million in 2010, according to the assemblyman. The regional total for December 2011 was $5.33 million.
Below is the town-by-town breakdown of revenues for 2011 compared with 2010:
| Town | 2011 | 2010 | % change |
| East Hampton | $13.86 M | $17.72 M | (21.8%) |
| Riverhead | $1.93 M | $2.29 M | (15.7%) |
| Shelter Island | $.82 M | $1.36 M | (39.7%) |
| Southampton | $38.88 M | $33.79 M | 15.1% |
| Southold | $3.35 M | $3.62 M | (7.5%) |
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