Mattituck leaders outline challenges and opportunities

From revitalized parks and threatened waterways to school enrollment and crime awareness, Mattituck’s leaders gathered Monday evening to confront the challenges their community faces and to rally support for bold solutions. With pride in recent progress and urgency over looming concerns, local officials painted a portrait of a hamlet hustling to adapt to changing times.

At the annual State of Mattituck 2025 dinner at Meats Meat BBQ, hosted by the Mattituck Chamber of Commerce, Mattituck Parks District commissioner Kevin Byrne told the crowd that his team has been hard at work innovating for district residents.

From being near-bankrupt just three years ago, the Mattituck Parks District has transformed into what Mr. Byrne called a “prosperous” and forward-looking agency — balancing its budget three years running, replacing vital infrastructure and bringing life to area waterfronts with new trucks, upgraded park entrances and a new dog park on Aldrich Lane. A free summer concert series at Veterans Beach, drew more than 2,000 attendees, stood as an example of how local sponsorship — not tax hikes — has helped fuel the district’s resurgence.

“All of this is thanks to the good graces of the people and the businesses of Mattituck who sponsor those events, which happen at no expense to the Mattituck taxpayers,” Mr. Byrne said.

The district oversees roughly 64 acres across nine properties, eight of them waterfront. Mr. Byrne noted that the “biggest challenge the park district faces is the potential devastation at Mattituck Inlet.”

“If we don’t get the Army Corps of Engineers out there to take care of business, we’re going to have a major problem on our hands,” he said. “This community lives, breathes and thrives on fishing and water sports and boating, so that if we don’t fix that, we’re in trouble.”

Southold Town Supervisor Al Krupski, as well as Jeff Strong of Strong’s Marina, addressed the issue later in the evening.

Mr. Strong thanked county and town officials for their efforts to get the interior of the inlet dredged last year, but said, “We’re waiting for the next appropriation of funds to get the mouth of the inlet dredged.”

Mr. Krupski said he’d seen the correspondence with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and reassured Mr. Byrne that dredging of the inlet’s mouth would be completed this fall.

School funding

Wide-ranging potential changes to funding guidelines for public schools was also on Monday’s agenda. Mattituck School District Superintendent Shawn Petretti said that with enrollment and state aid dropping — even as demand for special needs services rises rapidly — Mattituck could potentially benefit from a future merger with other nearby school districts.

Mr. Petretti said that with changes to the state aid formula, Mattituck could lose roughly $1.3 million in annual aid from Albany in the coming years. He also noted that English as a New Language students comprise between 14% and 30% of the student body, compared to just 4% in 2012. The percentage of economically disadvantaged students in the district has also more than doubled — from 14% in 2012 to 30% today.

He said 2012 school district enrollment counted 1,481 students, a number that is projected to drop to about 777 by 2032.

“I think that’s why it’s imperative that we really do begin to look at [merging districts] as an option on the North Fork,” Mr. Petretti said. “The next step is we need a study, [and] studies are expensive. Our local legislators are working with us to help find funding for that. They signed on immediately. So thank you to them.”

He added that merging districts could increase state aid by $29 million over 15 years.

“You cannot ignore those numbers.”

Emergency response

Mattituck assistant fire chief Judd Lincoln told the crowd that last year, the department responded to its largest call volume ever — while contending with a dwindling membership. He said that last year, the department responded to 704 calls, up from about 450 when he joined in 2001.

“The difference is — when I joined, we had about 125 members, with 10 members on a waiting list,” he said, whereas “now we have 92 members … We are trudging through more work with less people.”

Mr. Lincoln added that Mattituck has maintained a paid EMS team “on call 24/7 for the past two years.”

He invited anyone with a paramedic background to join the department: “By all means we would be happy to have anybody who would be interested in joining.”

Southold Police Chief Steve Grattan took the opportunity to once again warn the community about a pervasive problem: online scams.

“It is a perpetual problem,” he said. “It’s not going away. As technology advances, the scams advance … and they’re not just targeting seniors. It’s everybody. Every age group has fallen victim to these scams and we get them almost every day.”

Chief Grattan said that last year in Southold, larceny was the leading crime, in large part due to a rash of thefts of political lawn signs, but noted that thefts from parked cars was second.

“We have bad actors that come in from the west,” the chief said. “They find a neighborhood and they move quickly. If your car door is locked, they move on to the next. If they find a car door open, they rummage through that car. They’re taking whatever they can — electronics, money, change — and then they’re gone. So I just encourage you to lock your doors and spread that word.”

The chief also talked about the rollout of body-worn cameras to be used during most police encounters, noting that more than half the force will have completed training in the use of the devices by early next month.

“I welcome that,” he said. “That certainly enhances transparency and public trust, improves evidence collection, and I think it also protects our officers from false accusations.”

In addition, Chief Grattan announced that three new officers who recently graduated from the police academy have been appointed to the force.

“If you happen to see them out and about, introduce yourself and welcome them,” he told the crowd.