Letters

The Sag Harbor Village Board’s July 1 work session on capital planning and the creation of a local development corporation was saddening [“Sag Harbor LDC Proposal Gets Worked Over at Cacophonous Meeting,” 27east.com, July 2]. While the community was focused on what seems like another attempt to rush through legislation that could profoundly alter the character of our beautiful, historic village, some of the trustees seemed to think the objections were just a bump in the road.

It is a fact of life that decisions based on false assumptions invariably turn out to be mistakes.

We were told that the village draws on reserves every year to balance the budget. That is not true. It is what Winston Churchill called a “terminological inexactitude.”

Budget documents posted on its website reveal that the village prepares budgets using conservative assumptions for revenues and costs, and therefore has predicted annual deficits every year covered by the online documents, starting with fiscal year ended May 31, 2016.

However, in every year since fiscal 2014, actual revenues not only exceeded budget, more importantly they also exceeded actual expenses.

Put simply, the village enjoys actual profits, not budgeted losses. I am happy to share my budget analysis.

Scare-mongering is unacceptable and must not be used to fast-track decisions that could do irreparable harm.

To be clear, I am totally supportive of long-term planning. The village should review the properties it owns, consider whether the properties are being well-utilized, and how any required investment could best be funded.

The village also needs to consider other long-term capital needs: expansion of sewage treatment, enhanced stormwater management, mitigation of rising sea levels and increasingly frequent severe weather events, as well as more mundane matters such as replacing firetrucks and maintaining and upgrading properties and infrastructure.

The path forward seems clear to me.

First, develop the comprehensive plan with intensive public engagement.

In parallel, evaluate village properties and whether they could be better utilized.

Third, in open meetings, develop a capital needs plan.

Then, and only then, develop a financing plan that minimizes financial and other risks to the village and is the most cost-effective for taxpayers.

As many observed, developing the financing plan first is truly putting the cart before the horse.

Douglas Newby

Sag Harbor