Recent Stories: Bill Wilkinson

    As Election Day nears, endorsement announcements in the East Hampton Town race are beginning to trickle in, with the big news of this week being State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle’s and Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele’s support of the incumbent supervisor Bill Wilkinson, a Republican.
    Mr. Thiele, an Independence Party member, is also endorsing Bill Mott, an Independence Party candidate, for town board.

(November 11, 2010) East Hampton Town’s 2011 budget is slated for a vote next Thursday, and after a majority of town board members agreed Tuesday to restore funding totaling $60,000 to four community service organizations, appears to have unanimous town board support.

The $63.9 million budget would reduce spending by $8 million from last year and result in a tax rate of $26.55 per $100 of assessed value for town residents, and $12.21 per $100 of assessed value for village residents.

(October 14, 2010) At a hearing last Thursday on a proposal to eliminate roadside leaf pickup by the East Hampton Town Highway Department this fall, a majority of speakers were against dropping the service, which many said was an essential, and expected, service for their tax dollars. Other comments focused on the ecological benefits of leaf composting as well as its feasibility.

(November 04, 2010) After holding a business summit last Thursday in Montauk, members of the East Hampton Town Board reviewed the discussion there at a work session on Saturday, and mapped its implications for the future.

For Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, the meeting underscored a need for a “multi-year economic development plan for East Hampton.”

(March 10, 2011) East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, who has a background in corporate human resources, is turning his attention to management procedures and issues related to town employees.

A letter issued to all employees in their pay envelopes on March 1 warns against “behavior that will not be tolerated,” and says that “progressive discipline” will be used “to improve employee performance.”

(June 17, 2010) A coalition of community groups has questioned whether East Hampton Town can legally put Fort Pond House, a property it owns in Montauk, on the market.

Despite opposition from its Demo­cratic minority, the town board agreed on June 3 to list the property for sale. The resolution was approved in a 3-2 vote by the Republican majority, which insists that selling land must be part of a financial bailout plan in the face of a huge town deficit.

(May 25, 2010) The inclusion of East Hampton Town's two docks in Montauk on a list of properties that might be sold to help cover the town's deficit sent dozens of upset commercial fishermen to Town Hall last Thursday night.

Members of the fishing fleet who keep their boats at the town's commercial docks in Lake Montauk said they would lose their livelihood if the docks were privatized and fees went up. The town, they said, would suffer the loss of a year-round industry that pumps $50 million annually into the local economy.

(4/3/2008) Bill Wilkinson, who ran for East Hampton Town supervisor on the Republican, Working Families, Independence, and Conservative Party lines in 2007, has confirmed this week what many have suspected since the election. With the blessing of the Republican Committee, which is all but assured, he will run again in 2009.

(04/29/2010) A paintball tournament scheduled for Saturday at an East Hampton Town nature preserve has been canceled, but not before causing consternation and questions about whether such an activity is allowed on preserves and why its environmental impact had not been fully considered. The tournament, which was to have been a charity fund-raiser, was organized by the East Hampton Village Police Benevolent Association.

(November 18, 2010) The town board will vote tonight on the adoption of a 2011 East Hampton Town budget that trims spending by $8 million and would provide a tax cut of 17 percent for most town residents, and of 20 percent for residents of East Hampton or Sag Harbor Villages.

The close to $64 million budget would set property tax rates at $26.55 per $100 of assessed value, or $12.21 per $100 for village residents.