Smithtown budget plan includes raises, property tax hike

Smithtown officials have presented a $126.1 million tentative budget for 2023 that will maintain spending on parks and roads while boosting pay for Town Hall leaders. 

The 198-page spending plan relies on a 2.08% property tax increase, or about $23.75 for a home assessed at $5,500. It would also increase the residential solid waste fee, covering recycling and pickup and disposal of garbage and yard waste, by $25 to $530, almost 5%. The increase reflects higher fuel and disposal costs, town officials said in a budget summary. Property taxes and waste fees are the largest sources of town revenue, accounting for 50% and 16%, respectively. 

“We’ve delivered a budget this year that keeps all of the major funds structurally balanced, with no use of fund balance needed,” Supervisor Edward Wehrheim said in a budget message. “Our fund balance levels remain strong as does our outstanding fiscal rating.”

The plan would raise Wehrheim’s annual salary by 22%, from $118,827 to $145,000, and increase the pay of council members, who are officially designated as part-time, by 10.5%, from $77,496 to $85,596. Pay for a top aide, public information officer Nicole Garguilo, would increase by 16.9%, from $95,127 to $111,186. Department heads, who are members of a union, would get a contractually mandated 9.5% pay increase.

Town spending on salaries overall would rise 1.8%. Salaries account for 39% of town spending. 

Wehrheim said officials had gotten minimal raises over the last five years, and council members work full-time hours.

“We want the best and most dedicated folks and adjustments had to be made,” he said. “I’ll match my administration with any other.”

In 2018, Wehrheim was paid $111,635 and council members were paid $65,818. Tentative 2023 budgets for Smithtown neighbors Huntington and Brookhaven call for supervisor salaries of $162,903 and $131,580. Islip’s 2023 tentative budget was not available, but the 2022 budget put the town supervisor’s pay at $111,743. 

The Smithtown Town Board will hold a public budget hearing at 7 p.m. on Oct. 20 at Town Hall, but a budget vote has not been scheduled. 

The town comptroller’s office will likely release a separate 2023 capital budget in November, Wehrheim said. Town officials are “looking to borrow and bond less” because of rising interest rates and materials costs. The plan will cover renovation projects already underway at Smithtown Landing Country Club, the Roger Balducci Marine Facility, Callahans Beach and a Main Street parking lot used by patrons of downtown restaurants and other businesses. 

Already, Wehrheim said, the town road program is likely to repave fewer miles in 2023 because of rising costs, and Wehrheim said he was “truly concerned” about the budget he will start building next year for 2024.

Healthcare costs and pension obligations are rising, he said. The town also faces looming obstacles including closure of the Brookhaven landfill, repository for its solid waste ash, and expiration of its contract with labor union CSEA, he said. That is the town's largest union, representing about 440 mostly blue-collar workers.