The Shelter Island Town Board voted Monday to schedule a public hearing on a local law that would let the town exceed the state's cap on property tax increases when it adopts its 2027 budget. The hearing was set for Nov. 2.
Board members also scheduled two public hearings on the town's draft comprehensive plan, the long-range document that guides zoning and land-use policy, for Nov. 9 and Nov. 21. The vote carried with one member opposed.
Before voting, members disagreed over how thoroughly the board had reviewed Chapter 11 of the draft, which lists the plan's action items. "We've never discussed Chapter 11. We've never gone through that individually," one board member said, calling it "the meat of the plan." Another member said she believed the board had already given notes on the full document, including that chapter.
The board scheduled a Dec. 7 hearing on revoking Robert Waife's mooring permit at 9 North Ferry Road, after Waife requested the hearing under town code. It also set a Nov. 9 hearing on a zoning change that would remove a Cartwright Road property from the town's Nearshore and Peninsula Overlay District, following an earlier approved change of zone, and another Nov. 9 hearing on a rewritten Chapter 82 law governing irrigation systems meant to protect the aquifer.
On other business, the board approved returning $23,449.50 in excess police-service and cleanup deposits to Netflix Productions following filming of "Women Like Us" on the island. It also approved conditional rebates of up to $16,000 each to two property owners to install low-nitrogen septic systems, with abstentions recorded on each vote, and adopted an updated fee schedule for the town's recycling center and transfer station effective Jan. 1, 2027.
The board also approved a round of 2026 budget transfers, including moving $33,000 between interest-earned accounts, along with several smaller shifts affecting police, nutrition and insurance accounts.
During a required annual hearing on how the town should spend an expected $90,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds for 2027, representatives of two food-assistance groups asked the board to direct the money toward their programs. A speaker for CAST, which runs a satellite food pantry on the island, said the group now serves 218 islanders, including 61 children, up from 30 people when it launched in 2022. "We're deeply grateful for the many Shelter Island residents, volunteers and partners who stand behind their work and for the town's ongoing support," she said.
A speaker identified as Natasha, representing the Shelter Island Food Pantry, said her group operates on volunteer hours alone and recently saw close to 25 people come through in a two-hour period. "We quietly feed a lot of people," she said, adding that rising costs mean "the money that we budget to get food is not going as far as it used to."
The board did not decide how to allocate the grant funds Monday. A board member said the issue would be taken up at an Oct. 27 work session, with a resolution due before Dec. 1.