Letters to the Editor: ‘Protect the Mattituck Inlet’
SOUTHOLD
“Protect The Mattituck Inlet”
I strongly agree with resident Linda Toga’s recent letter to the editor opposing Strong’s Yacht Storage expansion.
The Mattituck inlet is a pristine, small waterway used for family swimming, some recreational fishing and weekend small crafts, both sailing and power boats. I myself have taking my 35-foot sailboat through the inlet a number of times. It can be a tricky undertaking. Narrow passages and at times tidal currents are challenging to boaters.
I would be scared to think about encountering a 80-foot vessel during a passage through.
Traffic through the Mattituck inlet by 80-foot vessels is endangering to the recreational public enjoying that pristine part of the North Fork and, let’s not forget, the rich wildlife that make the Mattituck inlet their home in the spring and summer — when large vessel traffic would be at its heaviest.
I hope the officials of the Town of Southold will reject Strong’s Marina huge expansion proposal.
Karl H. Schmidt
SOUTHOLD
“Group for the East End Supports Horseshoe Crab Protection Act”
It’s difficult to imagine a summer without witnessing horseshoe crabs coming to shore and getting ready to spawn, finding their molts on the beach, or educating our children not to pick them up by their tails as they try to get a better look. These experiences are in jeopardy. Like most other places along the East Coast, there is a documented population decline with no end in sight. In Feb. 2024, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to list the Atlantic horseshoe crab as an endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Often touted as living fossils, horseshoe crabs play an integral role in our ecosystem. It’s not just about the horseshoe crab, it also involves many other species, like migratory shorebirds that rely on the horseshoe crab eggs as part of their diet.
While horseshoe crabs have played an important role in the biomedical and commercial fishery industries, it has been to their detriment. Alternatives for the biomedical use of horseshoe crab blood exist and have become mainstream. If alternatives are not utilized for commercial bait, the horseshoe crab population will likely continue to decline.
Group for the East End has been advocating for Governor Kathy Hochul to sign the Horseshoe Crab Protection Act, which bans the commercial harvesting of horseshoe crabs for bait and biomedical purposes. Last year, Connecticut enacted the exact legislation. New York must step up and do its part in helping to protect a species that not only has intrinsic value but has provided so many benefits over the millions of years it has existed. We can and should do better in our conservation efforts. Please call 518-474-8390 or e-mail [email protected] to reach Governor Hochul’s office and express your support for the Horseshoe Crab Protection Act.
Jennifer Hartnagel
LAUREL
“New Southold town budget numbers”
One of the features of the 2025 Southold budget that was not mentioned in news coverage is the fact that the town plans to spend more money than it takes in next year.
The town has money in the bank so it will be able to meet its bills. What is concerning is that the town’s reliance on so-called “fund balances” to meet operating expenses is rising sharply.
Next year’s plan is to take $5.095 million out of “savings” to pay routine bills. That’s taking into account a planned 7.48% tax increase that the budget also contemplates (as opposed to the 6.44% increase that Supervisor Krupski originally proposed last month). The withdrawal is also more than 80% more than what the town took from its accounts to balance the 2024 budget, which was already almost 92% higher than the amount withdrawn in 2023. That’s a total 245% increase in fund balance reliance across three budgets.
Fortunately, Southold has healthy bank accounts and can handle these withdrawals, which suggests that Southold residents have been overtaxed in past years. Eventually, though, fund balances will run out. What will the town board do then?
Had fund balances not been available to pay bills next year, and assuming that everything else remained equal, residents would be looking at a roughly 20% tax increase instead of the 7.48% that is proposed. That’s not an opinion; it’s simple arithmetic, and the number will rise in future years, as prices increase, if something doesn’t change. This may be what Councilman Greg Doroski was referring to when he told your reporter that he had heard some “scary numbers” about where the 2025 budget proposal might land.
Using saved money to meet routine expenses is bad finance for households. The same applies to governments.
Elected officials have few choices. They can cut costs, increase non-tax revenues (like fees for town permits and programs), raise taxes or do a combination of the three.
By relying annually on money raised in previous years to pay future expenses, the town board puts Southold on a fiscal cliff. Action is required to prevent the town from going over it.
David A. Levy
AQUEBOGUE
“Another IDA Screw Up”
Unfinished and boarded up, at the promised Gateway to Riverhead, the eyesore at 205 Osborne Ave. is a monument to, at the very least, a glaring lack of due diligence to Riverhead’s Town Board and IDA, if not a breach of trust by public officials.
Rather than evidencing the Town’s revitalization, the abandoned building raises questions how a developer accused of running a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme (as reported in Newsday and Huntington new outlets) was welcomed to Riverhead. Unfortunately, the answer appears to be the thousands of dollars paid by the developer to Riverhead’s Republicans. The favors are reminiscent of the alleged quid pro quo Eric Adams is accused of in a Federal indictment, and merit, in this author’s opinion, a thorough investigation of both the IDA and Riverhead Town Board members that championed the dubious developer’s cause.
Ron Hariri
KINGS PARK
“Proposition 2”
On Jan. 3, 2022, the Kings Park Community Association, in conjunction with sewer district ratepayers and the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, filed a lawsuit against Suffolk County for illegally taking $198.5 million from the county’s sewer stabilization fund and then raising Kings Park’s sewer rates 452%.
The sewer stabilization fund was created by taxpayers by public referendum in 1987 to cap annual sewer rate increases at 3% and to help improve the county’s sewer infrastructure. However, due to poor budgetary decisions, the fund was looted by the county to pay its day-to-day operating expenses. Despite two previous lawsuits that required them to repay the sewer fund, the county attempted to breach its obligations again by adopting a new deceptive local law in 2020, triggering the latest 2022 lawsuit.
To add insult to injury, Suffolk County now wants you to approve Proposition #2 this Election Day, which will increase sales tax for additional sewer funding. Without question, the county’s decision to place this proposition on the ballot prior to returning the $198.5 million it stole from the existing sewer fund is a betrayal of the public trust and an affront to taxpayers.
So, on Election Day, hold Suffolk County accountable for repeatedly misusing taxpayers’ money by voting NO on Proposition #2.
Mike Rosato
Kings Park Community Association
RIVERHEAD
“Lawn signs”
Last week I wrote in principle about the problem of illegal removal of political signs. This week I write in protest of being victimized, presumably by Republican partisans. Signs were posted for Kamala Harris / Tim Walz for President / Vice President, John Avlon for Congress and Sarah Anker for the State Senate on Roanoke Avenue south of Reeves Avenue. The Harris/Walz signs had disappeared and been replaced twice. This morning, Monday, all were gone again.
Reporting requires going to the Riverhead police department on Howell Ave. to fill out a form. I hope everyone similarly affected does that so there is an official record of which side is more prone to disregard the law and the norms of democracy.
John McAuliff
SOUTHOLD
“Healing hope”
One week from now the voting will be over. That’s not to say we will have a winner. My fervent wish for this country is to have a peaceful transition of power and healing will begin. I had hoped the same four years ago, but alas that did not happen. We are as divided as we were during the Civil War, but we have an opportunity to begin the healing process regardless of the outcome of the election. I only hope it begins. It will begin with me. Pass it on.
Rosellen Storm
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