The Southold Town Board opened a public hearing Wednesday on the town's 2027 preliminary operating and capital budgets, which include $250,000 for sidewalks and repairs to the Fishers Island highway facility. The board later passed a motion to recess the hearing until 6 p.m.
Dan Goodwin, the town's elected highway superintendent, told the board that while the town stayed under the state tax cap, flat funding for his department amid rising costs means less road paving and sidewalk work next year. He said the highway department maintains about 403 lane miles of road, including on Fishers Island.
Goodwin said unfilled positions in the department will slow response times for plowing and storm cleanup, calling the highway department "a public safety division of this town." He said the department's share of a typical tax bill is about 3.5%.
"The cuts that are in this will impact response times, will impact cleanup times when storms come through," Goodwin said.
Goodwin asked the board to be more collaborative on budget decisions and suggested holding a listening session to find out what residents want their tax dollars spent on. "I would have gladly given up equipment this year to save those positions," he said.
Peter Harris, a former Southold highway superintendent for three terms, urged the board to use the highway fund balance to immediately fill two vacant positions rather than wait for the 2027 budget process, and to carry those positions into next year's budget afterward.
"I'm telling you, as a 40-year man, the highway, I lived it. I know what he's going through," Harris said. "I'm begging you, find that money and make him whole."
A board member who said she has been on the board a long time recalled the highway department once had about 50 workers in the 1980s and 1990s, compared with 18 now handling plow routes, and said she is still looking for a way to refill the vacant position.
East Marion resident Anne Murray told the board the staffing decline was surprising given the town's growth, and said officials need to do more to educate residents about what makes up their tax bills, including school taxes. "He's gonna take the heat for what you're not allowing him to do," she said of Goodwin.
A Southold resident, Walter Strohmeyer, also addressed the board during the hearing, raising questions about tax bill formatting, town beach maintenance and whether interest income on tax collections appears in the budget.