Southold’s proposed 2025 budget pierces state tax cap

In stark contrast to the 0% tax increase that came with last year’s budget, Southold Town’s tentative budget for 2025 proposes a 6.44% increase, piercing the state-mandated annual tax cap of 2% and  requiring a public hearing and vote from the Town Board for ratification.

The tentative budget, prepared by Supervisor Al Krupski, increases by roughly 6.5% over 2024’s budget of $57,165,857. It was presented to Town Board members for review at a special meeting Tuesday morning.

The next step is for the Town Board to go over the tentative budget with department heads, and prepare a preliminary budget, which will then be filed with the town clerk. Public budget hearings will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 6, at 4 and 7 p.m. at Town Hall. The hearings may be adjourned, but not be postponed beyond Nov. 15, and the final budget must be adopted no later than Nov. 20. 

Mr. Krupski thanked comptroller Michelle Nickonovitz, deputy comptroller Anna Dean, deputy supervisor John Stype, secretarial assistant to the Town Board Michelle Tomaszewski and his confidential secretary Lauren Standish for their hard work in helping him put together this tentative budget.

“It was kind of a wild ride this year,” Mr. Krupski said Tuesday. “There were a lot of anticipated problems with this budget that were not unforeseen, including the reality of the retirement costs and the reality of our retirement contributions and the great increase in health insurance. However, having said that, we’re still making an effort to improve water quality, borrowing money to do drainage and we’re still trying to improve our roadways and made a commitment to improving our sidewalks. In short, we’re committed to improving our infrastructure.”

The tentative budget designates funding of $1.9 million for highway work, stormwater mitigation efforts and sidewalk replacements.

The budget also allocates funds toward streetlights and road resurfacing on Fishers Island and improving the sidewalks at Town Hall.

In a letter to Town Board members, Mr. Krupski wrote that the town’s “fiscal position is strong, thanks to past careful management of growth in government departments and overall spending. However, last year’s budget, with a 0% increase in the tax rate, didn’t address the reality of scheduled or forecasted increases in payroll, insurance, department services, retirement contributions and overall cost of supplies and materials.”

The tentative budget also looks ahead, holding space for preliminary budgets for years 2026 and 2027. 

Town Board member Greg Doroski commended Mr. Krupski for his work on this budget.

“We heard some scary numbers floating around about where this budget may land,” Mr. Doroski said. “I think, as we look at neighboring municipalities, everyone’s in a similar position, and I think we rank so much better than most of the local municipalities. As I said last time, I think the previous board bears some responsibility for the position that we’re in with the 0% tax increase last year and I think the point that budgeting being a multi-year process and us looking not just at this year but our position next year, especially with expenses that we know are going to increase … we just need to address those realities head on and it’s uncomfortable but that’s our responsibility as the fiscal managers of this town.”

Mr. Krupski said he looks forward to the budget review process.

“The proposed tentative budget for 2025 is a realistic approach to providing the services that reflect our quality of life and the government services required,” he said.