Riverhead Town’s proposed 2024 operating budget and a local law authorizing the town to pierce the 2% tax levy cap will be the subject of a pair of public hearings at Town Hall Thursday.
The proposed budget calls for a tax levy increase of 4.86% to support spending of just over $69.4 million in the three town-wide funds, a 5.5% spending increase over 2023. The three town-wide funds are the general fund, the highway fund and the street lighting district fund.
The tax rate per $1,000 of assessed property value would rise to $62.319 per thousand in 2024, up from $59.613 per thousand this year. Assessed value is a fraction of current market value. The supervisor’s budget document states that an “average” home in Riverhead has a market value of $538,000 and an assessed value of $50,000. That home would see a property tax increase of $135.50 to cover the three town-wide funds.
Additional town taxes are levied on properties located within the water district, sewer district, garbage district, ambulance district, and public parking district, to cover the expenses of those districts.
Proposed total spending, including these districts and the three town-wide funds, would top $111.3 million in 2024.
MORE COVERAGE: Aguiar’s proposed 2024 budget: $5.5 million town-wide spending increase, 4.9% tax levy hike, piercing cap
The proposed preliminary budget remains unchanged from Supervisor Yvette Aguiar’s tentative budget proposal filed Sept. 30. Town Board members have not proposed any changes to her tentative budget nor have they publicly discussed the budget since Aguiar filed it with the town clerk, as required by state law.
State law also requires the town to hold a hearing on the proposed budget on or before the Thursday following the general election. Since the general election was Nov. 7, the board must hold the hearing no later than Nov. 9 this year.
To adopt a budget that exceeds the state-imposed 2% tax levy limit, the Town Board must pass a local law, with a supermajority vote, authorizing the town to override the tax levy limit.
Both hearings are scheduled for Nov. 9 at 2 p.m.
After the hearing, the Town Board may amend the preliminary budget. The Town Board must adopt a final budget for next fiscal year by Nov. 20. If the Town Board fails to adopt the budget by that time, the preliminary budget becomes the final adopted budget for the next fiscal year.
Public hearing set for proposed five-story building on W. Main Street
The board set a public hearing on the site plan application for a five-story mixed-use apartment building proposed for a wooded lot on the corner of West Main Street and Sweezy Avenue.
Jericho-based developer Georgica Green Ventures is looking for approval to construct a 58-foot 7-inch tall building with 5,700-square-feet of ground floor commercial space and 133 market-rate apartments on upper floors.
MORE COVERAGE: Plans aired for new mixed-use apartment building on West Main Street
The building is located within the town’s Railroad Avenue Urban Renewal Area Overlay District which was established in January 2021 by the town to incentivize development in the blighted area near the train station.
Riverhead Planner Greg Bergman said at a recent work session that the building’s construction will require the installation of a traffic light at the intersection of West Main Street and Sweezy Avenue, as well as an eastbound left turn lane at the intersection.
The board also assumed lead agency status and issued a negative declaration pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act for the site plan application, determining the proposed development will have no significant negative environmental impacts with the implementation of mitigation measures.
The public hearing is scheduled to take place at 2:05 p.m. Thursday.
Public input sought on distribution of Community Development Block Grant funds
Also on the Town Board’s agenda Thursday is a public hearing to gather public input on the distribution of an expected $215,000.00 in Federal Community Development Block Grant funding for fiscal year 2024. These funds may be used, and have been previously used, for a variety of projects that benefit low- and moderate-income persons, aid in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight and/or meet a need having a particular urgency.
The hearing is set for 2:05 p.m.
‘Fair and reasonable’ sewer rent hearing
The Riverhead Town Board, as the governing body of the Riverhead Sewer District, will hold a public hearing at 2:05 p.m. Thursday to establish a sewer rent for the sewage treatment provided by the district to the County of Suffolk at the county center in Riverside, Town of Southampton, for the calendar year 2023 at the rate of $8.223 per 1,000 gallons of annual flow based upon the water consumption for the county center facilities. This results in a charge of $889,758.30, due July 1, 2023.
The hearings will be held in the board meeting room at Town Hall, 4 W. Second Street, Riverhead.
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