Plan to Manage C.P.F. Land
(10/01/2009) A proposed 2010 management and stewardship plan for properties in East Hampton Town that have been bought and preserved with the community preservation fund calls for spending approximately $531,000 of the fund’s anticipated revenue next year on projects such as removing invasive plants or debris, restoring damaged areas, and repairing and restoring historic buildings.
The money would pay not only for materials and supplies but would be used to reimburse other town departments for the salaries of workers assigned to preservation fund property projects.
In addition, Scott Wilson, East Hampton Town’s director of land acquisition and management, who prepared the draft plan and recently submitted it to the town board for review, has suggested that $300,000 be set aside next year to establish a reserve fund to pay for management and stewardship of C.P.F. properties beyond the sunset in 2030 of the 2-percent real estate transfer tax, which funds the program.
According to the state law establishing the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund, which has been established in the five East End towns, up to 10 percent of the fund’s annual revenue can be used for management and stewardship after the adoption of an annual plan.
The proposal for 2010 depends on income to the preservation fund next year of at least $5.3 million to accomplish the suggested projects, and of at least $8.3 million if the establishing of the reserve fund for future needs is factored in. However, Mr. Wilson notes in the draft plan, the spending and set-asides proposed for next year can be modified according to the fund’s income.
In conjunction with a downturn in the real estate market, East Hampton’s receipts from the transfer tax have dropped from a high of $30 million in 2007 to a total of $14.5 million last year. Receipts this year, as of the end of August, were $4.9 million. This year’s management and stewardship budget totaled $894,000.
Since the community preservation fund program began in 1999, East Hampton Town has acquired 189 properties, or interests in real property, encompassing 1,600 acres. The fund has generated approximately $156.6 million, and the town has borrowed more than $50 million against future revenue to acquire property while it is still available.
According to Mr. Wilson’s draft plan, eight of the acquisitions have been for historic preservation, including the purchase of the Hook School House in East Hampton Village, Duck Creek Farm on Three Mile Harbor Road in Springs, and the former Lester house on North Main Street in East Hampton.
Five properties, including the former Boys Harbor camp, for which the town and county are in contract, have been targeted as parks. The others are the Springs Park, Town Lane Park, and Fort Pond Bay Park. The remaining properties are open space or woodland, wetlands, farmland, and beaches or shoreline tracts.
The management and stewardship plan proposes budgeting up to $274,000 for work on two historic properties, the former Lester house and the Amagansett Life Saving Station; $49,500 for parks and recreation properties; $25,500 for open space, and $58,000 for beach and shoreline sites. Specific issues to be addressed at particular sites are detailed in the plan.
To cover emergency or unforeseen needs or problems, the draft budget also includes $66,000 left unallocated to be used by specific departments on any preservation fund property, and a contingency line of $20,000.
The preservation fund’s recent dwindling income has not only affected the town’s ability to make land purchases but has raised concern about the potential budgetary impact should receipts fail to cover the cost of debt repayment, leaving the town obligated to pay off the bonds with general taxpayer dollars. In addition, the long-term cost of caring for all of the land that is preserved has become a concern.
Although an analysis has not yet been completed of how much taking care of the land bought now with the preservation fund could cost in the future, after the program’s end, Mr. Wilson estimates in his report that between $7 million and $10 million should be set aside. When properties are acquired, he notes, they are to be preserved in perpetuity, “and therefore our reserve fund must also last as long.”
Besides taking care of management and stewardship expenses after 2030, Mr. Wilson wrote in his draft plan, the reserve fund could be used if needed on an emergency basis to pay for debt service in any year in which the incoming C.P.F. revenues fall short of what is needed for the annual payments. And, he noted, “if the fund generates sufficient interest . . . any overage may be applied to additional acquisitions beyond the year 2030.”
Details about the town’s community preservation fund, including the budget, have been posted on the land acquisition and management department Web site at ehland.org.