Riverhead adopts $73.5 million town-wide operating budget for 2025, as overall expenditures top $117 million

Riverhead’s final 2025 operating budget was approved unanimously by the Town Board Tuesday night, requiring a 7.5% town-wide tax rate hike to fund spending of $73.5 million.

The only change made to the budget in its final form were reductions in salary increases for the town supervisor and town council members. The supervisor’s salary will rise from $115,148 to $118,919, instead of the $125,148 proposed in the supervisor’s tentative budget. The council members’ salaries will rise from $48,955 to $50,558, instead of the $52,627  proposed in the tentative budget.

The raises for other elected officials remained as proposed in the tentative budget, a 5.7% increase over 2024 salaries. That amounts to a $5,000 raise for two town justices, two assessors,  the tax receiver, town clerk and highway superintendent, and a $5,778 raise for the chairman of the board of assessors.

The  town-wide tax rate per $1,000 of assessed valuation will increase to $66.99, up from $62.32 per $1,000 — an increase of $4.67 per $1,000 for the three town-wide funds: general fund, highway fund and street lighting district fund. 

A home with an assessed value of $50,040 will see an increase of about $234 in town-wide taxes for the new tax year. An assessed value of $50,040 is the equivalent of a $600,000 market value, roughly the median home value this year in the Town of Riverhead, according to sales data published by Zillow and Redfin — though the median varies among the hamlets. A home with a market value of $700,000 has an assessed value of $58,380 and would see an increase of about $273 in 2025.

A property’s assessed value is printed on its property tax bill in a box labeled “total assessment,” which is found on the same line as the property’s physical address.

Taxes on properties within the ambulance, water and sewer districts are also going up. The tax levies in these districts are going up 2.99%, which is within the state-imposed tax levy limit for Riverhead Town this year. The tax rates per $1,000 of assessed value for these districts have not yet been finalized the Riverhead Financial Administrator Jeanette DiPaola said.

The town was working with a tax levy increase limit of about 3.78% this year, according to the tentative budget documents. The tax levy limit, commonly referred to as a “2% tax cap,” actually changes from year to year, adjusted for inflation, assessed value growth factor and an exclusion for police retirement rate increases required by the state retirement system, DiPaola noted.

The adopted budget increases the town-wide property tax levy by 7.89% over 2024, which required the Town Board to adopt a local law authorizing it to pierce the state-imposed tax levy limit. The board also adopted the local law authorizing it to exceed the tax levy limit at Tuesday night’s meeting. 

Supervisor Tim Hubbard said in his budget message that the general fund tax levy, which rose 6.67% in 2025 to $48.64 million, is “due in large part to increases to insurance premiums and retirement systems contributions.” In addition to the tax levy, the budget uses $1.75 million from the general fund’s appropriated fund balance to cover general fund expenses.

Expenses for the Riverhead Police Department represent nearly half of the general fund budget, Hubbard said in his budget message. The supervisor, a retired Riverhead Police detective who has focused on public safety issues, said public safety is one area he is not willing to “cut corners on.”

The fee charged for residential garbage collection and disposal will increase $63 per year, according to Hubbard’s budget message. This fee applies to residences within the town’s garbage districts and is charged on the town tax bill. Commercial properties, including condominium and apartment complexes and manufactured home communities, contract privately with collection companies for services. 

Total town operating expenses in 2025 are estimated at just under $117.3 million. This total includes the town’s special districts as well as the operation of facilities and programs funded by revenues collected rather than by real property taxes, as well as expenses in the town-wide funds (general fund, highway fund and street lighting district.)

Town taxes, not including special district taxes, represent about  one-third of a property tax bill in the Town of Riverhead. Riverhead Central School District/library district taxes account for about 55% of the tax bill.

Special district taxes, including water, sewer and ambulance district taxes, which are part of the town’s total budget and the garbage collection fee, plus fire district taxes, county taxes and miscellaneous taxes like the MTA tax, make up the balance of the bill. All property taxes, however, are collected by the Riverhead Receiver of taxes and disbursed by the town to the other taxing jurisdictions, such as county, school and fire districts.

The property tax year runs from Dec. 1 through May 31. Taxpayers may pay property taxes without penalty in two installments. The first half is due by Jan. 10, after which interest at the rate of 1% per month through May 31 is assessed. The second half is due May 10. 

After May 31, taxes must be paid to the county treasurer, with accrued interest and penalties as provided by law. Failure to pay taxes by the tax sale date (usually November or December) the county comptroller will sell a lien to the County of Suffolk on the property to cover delinquent taxes for the current year. For more information see the Information for Taxpayers page on the comptroller’s website.