The Southampton Town Trustees voted Tuesday to authorize litigation against the Town of Southampton if the town does not restore the trustees' own adopted budget for fiscal year 2027. The resolution says state law gives the trustees authority to prepare and adopt their own annual operating budget, and that the town's proposed fiscal year 2027 budget contains alterations to the version the trustees adopted and submitted in October.
The resolution calls on the town to remove the alterations and incorporate the trustees' budget without change. It states that if the town does not restore that budget in full, the trustees' president is authorized to begin an action in state Supreme Court. One trustee asked whether the board should take a roll call vote "given the gravity of this," but another said it was not necessary, and the motion carried without one.
Earlier in the meeting, a resident who said he grew up in East Quogue and spends much of the year on Shinnecock Bay described a plan to grow bay scallops in lantern nets, saying Cornell would provide scallop spat for the project. He said he hoped the effort could also help seed the bay naturally. "I grew up scalping with my uncle and I really loved it," he told the board.
A trustee said the board likely would not stand in the way once the resident secures state permits. "We're probably not going to be the no," the trustee said, but told the applicant to pursue a Department of Environmental Conservation permit before the trustees take further action, since he has not yet begun that process.
The trustees also approved shifting $25,000 and $10,000 between marine maintenance and dredging and bulkheading lines in the 2026 budget, and authorized up to $35,000 to hire Chesterfield's Associates to remove navigational aids for the winter. A trustee said the move was needed because the board's barge had broken down and its four-man crew had been reduced to two due to medical reasons.
A trustee also issued a public notice asking hunters to properly dispose of carcasses after deer remains were found skinned and dumped on Cold Spring beach. "People go there with their families, with their dogs, and it's really, it's not fair to the animal that's giving you meat," the trustee said.