A round-table discussion and public question-and-answer session from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday called “Housing, Open Space, and Taxes: A Question of Balance” will center on the issues surrounding those interrelated topics in East Hampton Town.

    It will take place at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett, and will be moderated by Charles Hitchcock, a former chairman of the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals, and Debra Foster, a former East Hampton Town councilwoman.

    The panelists will include Lisa Liquori, a former East Hampton Town planning director, Tom Ruhle, the town’s director of housing and community development, Phelan Wolf, a real estate broker, Jeannie Nielsen, the town’s chief assessor, East Hampton Town Councilwoman Julia Prince, the town board’s liaison on housing, and two representatives of the Group for the East End, Bob DeLuca, its president, and Jeremy Samuelson, an environmental advocate.

    During the discussion, according to a release about the event, participants “will take a hard look at the costs of preserving open space, providing realistic affordable housing opportunities, and the impact of both on the taxpayer.”

    Each of the panelists will provide information during brief statements before members of the public are invited to ask questions or make comments.

    Ms. Liquori will provide data on population and land use here, and review the goals and importance of the 1984 and 2005 East Hampton Town comprehensive plans. Ms. Nielsen will discuss the effects of open space and different types of development on property and school taxes, as well as the effects of reassessment on tax bills, and provide a comparison of property taxes with other Suffolk County towns. Mr. DeLuca will address the need to protect open space and the successes and challenges in use of the community preservation fund, and Mr. Wolf will discuss the value of real estate located near dense development or near open space.

    Mr. Samuelson will outline the economic benefits and costs of open space and parks preservation versus development, while Mr. Ruhle will present information on housing needs in East Hampton today and what types of affordable housing are available.

    Ms. Prince will review issues before the town board related to housing.

    Other topics to be addressed include the concept of “smart growth,” which centers dense development in and around hamlet downtowns, the impacts of second-home owners on East Hampton’s taxes, effects of overcrowded houses and how enforcement can be made “effective, consistent, and fair,” whether property upzonings since 1985 have priced local young people out of the housing market, and whether East Hampton needs to increase development in order to generate more property taxes.

    The final hour of the program will be devoted to an open discussion of all the issues.   

    Sabas Martinez, the East Hampton man police said shot and stabbed the mother of his children on Feb. 13, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder last Thursday in Suffolk County Criminal Court in Riverhead. He is accused of shooting Noemi Sanchez with a pellet gun and stabbing her in the head. The charge of attempted murder came after a grand jury indictment on Feb. 18.

    Mr. Martinez has already pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree assault and burglary, which are felonies, two counts of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor, and two counts of child endangerment, also a misdemeanor.

    Judge William J. Condon ordered that he be held without bail. “There is a severe risk of flight,” Caren Manzello, an assistant district attorney, said. Mr. Martinez has been in the Suffolk County jail since last week and has been put on suicide watch, Ed Vitale, his legal aid lawyer, told the court.

    Mr. Martinez, a citizen of Mexico, is expected to remain in jail and is awaiting a deportation hearing. Nevertheless, Judge Condon issued two orders of protection for Ms. Sanchez. They will remain in effect until February 2012. Ms. Sanchez was treated at Stony Book University Medical Center after she was attacked. She was subsequently released.

    Mr. Martinez appeared in court last Thursday wearing a white turtleneck under a dark blue sweater. He walked with his head down, and kept it down as an interpreter spoke into his ear. He was released from handcuffs just long enough to sign the orders of protection. His charges were read by the assistant district attorney and translated into Spanish.

    Ms. Manzello took Judge Conlon through a series of events leading to the Feb. 13 attack, in which Mr. Martinez is alleged to have stabbed Ms. Sanchez, the mother of the couple’s 11, 16, and 22-year-old daughters.

    Mr. Martinez, described as a convicted felon, asked Ms. Sanchez if he could move in with her and the children at their house on Squaw Road, East Hampton, after he was released from prison in October, Ms. Manzello said. They had lived in the house for three years but Mr. Martinez never had, she said. Ms. Sanchez said no, according to the assistant district attorney. On Feb. 5, however, Mr. Martinez sent Ms. San­chez a text message saying “she would regret that decision,” Ms. Manz­ello said.

    Late on the night on Feb. 12, Mr. Martinez allegedly broke into the Squaw Road house and waited for Ms. Sanchez to return from a night out. Their daughters were asleep. The alleged attack occurred when she got home at about 1:30 a.m. The couple’s 16-year-old daughter disarmed her father, police said, but after finding another knife, Mr. Martinez slashed his own neck and wrists. Police arrived shortly afterward.

    Ms. Manzello said Mr. Martinez had been arrested 10 times, including 3 arrests on driving while intoxicated charges, 2 probation revocations, and 3 times related to warrants issued for failing to appear in court on other charges. Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have placed a hold on him. He is due back in County Court on March 24.

A resurfacing project originally planned for this year to address potholes and other problems that have plagued the stretch of Route 27 between Southampton and East Hampton will not go out for bids until the summer of 2012 and is not likely to be finished until the summer of 2013, a spokeswoman for the State Department of Transportation said last week.

Furthermore, despite a common sentiment that the worst problem areas are in Water Mill, Bridgehampton, and Wainscott, the complete resurfacing project, as described by Eileen Peters, regional spokeswoman for the State D.O.T., will include only a limited section of the road between its intersection with Stephen Hand’s Path in East Hampton and with Buell Lane in the heart of East Hampton Village.

Last fall, drivers witnessed spot repairs — a process Ms. Peters said was unusual for the D.O.T. — to address some of the most egregious problems. But a complete resurfacing, which includes removing the top layer of deteriorated asphalt and replacing it, has been long awaited, and these new delays — and the narrow scope of the project when it does begin — are likely to inflame local passions on the issue.

The funding for the project, according to Ms. Peters, totals around $3 million, and the budgeting process appears to be on schedule — for an initial bidding process in 2012, that is.

East Hampton Town Highway Superintendant Scott King said over the phone on Monday that he was disappointed, but not surprised. “I wish they’d just push it [the resurfacing] at least up past Townline BBQ” in Sagaponack Mr. King said, pointing out that resurfacing was also necessary as far east as the intersection of Old and New Montauk Highway at the east end of the Napeague stretch.

Mr. King described an awkward bureaucracy, one that had refused his offers of equipment in the past and was failing to address monster potholes with anything more than Band-aids.

State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. said Monday that he was frustrated with the scope of the project, but vowed to try and move up its start time as well as expand its reach to include problem areas in Bridgehampton and Wainscott. At the least, he said, he hopes the state will do additional spot resurfacing to address some of the worst potholes before he summer season.

“We’re looking to short-term resurfacing this spring, but the big goal here is to expand this project. The roads are just as bad if not worse” than they were before the recent spot resurfacing in November, he said.

The poor road conditions are not just a public safety issue, but an economic one, Mr. Thiele said. “A tourist-based economy depends on people being able to get out here.”

Route 27 is a state road, and state bud­get woes in Albany may limit funds for these kinds of infrastructure projects.

Ms. Peters said the D.O.T. is willing to address problem areas when residents point them out, and insisted she and her colleagues are aware of those problem areas on the South Fork, though she also suggested some of the recent consternation was likely due to last year’s repairs having left some patches of highway in great shape and others looking worse by comparison.

    In her quarterly state of the town address at Southampton Town Hall on Friday, Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst painted a picture of a town on the comeback, with organized labor, local businesses, and the town board working in harmony. 

    Addressing an overflow crowd, she said town employees were helping Southampton turn “a most significant corner” in its economic recovery.

    Ms. Throne-Holst, elected in 2009 and up for re-election this fall, said she had wrought a “leaner, more fiscally sound” town government, and emphasized technocratic competence and a cordial relationship with her colleagues. Calling this the “final step in a long, elaborate odyssey,” Ms. Throne-Holst pointed to a roughly 20-percent reduction in the town’s deficit (from $8.1 million to $6.5 million) and a surplus in the town police fund as positive indicators. “In short, we achieved a net $1 million in improved fund balances in 2010,” she said.

    The supervisor raised the issue of annual full value reassessment, a practice the town is unique in carrying out, and to which she proposed an alternative at a recent Bridgehampton Citizens Advisory Committee meeting. Ms. Throne-Holst suggested she would make the trip soon to Albany to discuss new assessment practices with state legislators and the Office of Real Property Tax Services.

    She touched on land use issues, noting that Councilwoman Bridget Fleming was at work with the town trustees and the Land Management Department on a local waterfront revitalization plan, and she emphasized the need for public officials to be aggressive stewards of the land and natural resources.

    On energy issues, she pointed out that the Towns of Southampton and Babylon are the sites of pilot programs, in partnership with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Long Island Power Authority, to provide $5,000 rebates for those who renovate their houses in environmentally sensitive ways.

Housing efforts for Southampton Town have been consolidated into one body, the housing authority, which Ms. Throne-Holst said will “begin the construction of nine affordable homes this year,” with plans for additional houses within the next two years. The town’s ranking under the Housing Choice Voucher program, run by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, rocketed up from a non-passing grade to 98 percent this year, the supervisor added.

    Code enforcement, Ms. Throne-Holst said, had received a boost under her watch, with the number of ordinance inspectors increasing to six, thanks to filling three vacancies and the creation of a new position. 

She praised Councilwoman Nancy Graboski for working with the county to get sidewalks along the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike and make improvements to traffic and road safety on Scuttlehole Road, and she credited Councilman Chris Nuzzi with spearheading the reopening of the food and beverage service space at the Poxabogue Golf Course in Sagaponack.

The supervisor closed by thanking retiring Police Chief James Overton for his 40 years of service.

    In response to an outpouring of community opposition, followed by a lawsuit seeking cancellation of a town permit, the organizers of the MTK: Music to Know festival, slated for Aug. 13 and 14, are seeking Federal Aviation Administration and East Hampton Town permission to move the event to an unused runway at East Hampton Airport. Should that effort fail, they plan to go ahead with the concert at its original proposed site, on farmland in Amagansett.

    The prospect of the festival taking place in Wainscott was discussed at a Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee meeting on Saturday.

    In an April 4 letter to the town board, the committee noted that it was “not categorically opposed” to large events being held in East Hampton Town, including in Wainscott, but that it hoped the town board would use the permitting process to ensure that they were “rotated through the hamlets.”

    According to the committee’s letter, Wainscott residents have expressed some concern about the festival, specifically issues of traffic and crowds, as well as its proposed hours: from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Aug. 13 and 14. Committee members, however, also said they recognized the potential positive economic impact of such a festival. 

The citizens group lauded the town board for ascertaining that the concert promoters intend to follow through on a promise to donate $100,000 to local charities, but called that amount “extremely low” given the potential profits from the two-day festival. The donations to be made as a condition of receiving a mass-gathering permit for a large event should be commensurate with the anticipated earnings, the committee wrote in its letter.

Performers for the MTK: Music to Know show have not yet been announced, although organizers have said the lineup will include 20 bands, alternating performances on two stages.

    This week, MTK: Music to Know announced its partnership with WEHM, a local radio station that broadcasts on 92.9 and 96.9 FM. 

     The station will broadcast live during the two-day event, interviewing bands and spotlighting charities that have been invited to set up at the festival site to disseminate information and collect donations. 

The station will also promote the music of festival performers in the months leading up to the event, and is expected to hold several contests for V.I.P. and general admission tickets. 

The station’s manager, Harry Wareing, said in a press release, “We serve a sophisticated audience that is extremely loyal to our format, and who are all eagerly anticipating the MTK concert, which will include many great artists that are heard on EHM.” 

    The nature of the music has been a topic of interest to residents opposed to the event being held in Amagansett, with some expressing worry that certain genres could bring fans that would behave in an inappropriate manner. 

The founders of MTK — Chris Jones, the owner of Solé East hotel in Montauk, and Bill Collage, a screenwriter, both of Sag Harbor — have said that groups that might draw a rowdy crowd would not be considered. 

The festival will showcase “adult contemporary music” and “emerging pop, rock, and alt-rock acts,” according to the promoters, who said in this week’s press release that they will  announce names in the coming weeks.

Tickets are expected to go on sale in mid-April, the press release indicated, with two-day general admission tickets and V.I.P. passes available. A limited number of “upgrade passes” for admission to a “wine terrace” and beer garden will be offered to general admission ticketholders, and there will be a pre-sale for local residents, offering a 20-percent discount on any type of ticket.

    East Hampton Town’s 2009 financial audit is complete, and a 2010 audit has begun, an accountant for the town told the East Hampton Town Board at a work session on Tuesday. That not only brings the town up to speed financially after years of financial mismanagement and inadequate recordkeeping, but puts things ahead of the game this year. 

The 2010 audit is due to be submitted to New York State in the fall, but up-to-date financial statements that could perhaps be finished next month will give the town board the data it needs to make decisions about handling the town’s approximately $27.5 million budget deficit. 

The deficit amount has been certified by the state comptroller, paving the way for the town to issue long-term bonds to raise money. 

Under the previous town administration, various town accounts were tapped in past years to pay for day-to-day operating expenses and other items that should have been covered by general budget or other funds, and now that the process of determining which fund is owed what is done, repayments have begun.

The community preservation fund has been repaid $4 million of between $10 and $11 million it is owed, Len Bernard, the town budget officer, said at the town board meeting on Tuesday.

During a presentation to the board at that meeting, Dave Tellier of Nawrocki Smith, the town’s accounting firm, reviewed the procedures followed during a forensic audit of East Hampton’s capital projects fund.

Income to and expenditures from the fund had to be recreated, beginning from 2003 and going through 2009, a period when there was no separating accounting for capital projects, Mr. Tellier said. All capital projects save one — a restroom in Montauk required by the County Health Department in order to keep Edison Beach open to the public — have been on hold until the accounting for the capital fund could be completed.

Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson complimented Mr. Tellier and Mr. Bernard because, he said, “they have really supervised the cleanup of just a financial management nightmare.”

“You’ve done an incredible job,” he said. Going forward, he promised, “We’re going to question every dollar. We’re going to be tough on it.” Judging by fourth-quarter 2010 data, Mr. Bernard said, the town ended the year with between $5.5 million and $7 million extra in its general funds — $4 to $5 million in its whole-town general fund, and $1.5 to $2 million in the part-town general fund. 

Also at its meeting on Tuesday, the town board discussed its initiative to promote media industries in East Hampton. 

A large building designed as a film studio, built some years ago on town land at the industrial park in Wainscott, received a go-ahead specifically because the board at the time sought to bring film productions into the town as an economic stimulus.

Now, the owner of the building wants to sell it, Town Councilwoman Theresa Quigley reported. “I’m very concerned about that building not continuing in that capacity,” she said. Terms of the property lease limit its use to media-based businesses, John Jilnicki, the town attorney, said, although the board recently authorized the use of a portion of the building for storage. 

Ms. Quigley, who was key to the formation of the town’s Media Advisory Committee, charged with encouraging the film and photography business here, said that she and Mr. Wilkinson had met recently with state and county film commissions about tax credits that could be offered to the industry, and that “one of the attractions is to have that studio there.” 

“I think it’s important for the town to retain its priority for that area, and that’s media,” said Mr. Wilkinson.

The town’s public-access cable television provider, LTV, is based in a town-owned building, also at the industrial park. Mr. Wilkinson said that after learning that Southampton Town is discussing building a new studio for SEA-TV, its own public access provider, he had contacted Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst and Councilwoman Nancy Graboski to propose sharing the Wainscott facility.

   Neighbors of a proposed three-lot development in Springs continued to rail against improvement of the properties at an East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on March 22, even though the board had already approved a house on each lot three years ago. 

The owner of the three lots, Joslin Lions Head, which received variances for each of the three houses in 2008, had to return to the zoning board with reworked applications after the Suffolk County Department of Health denied variance requests for septic systems on the properties. 

In the revised applications to the zoning board, the houses, which would be between 1,911 square feet and 3,149 square feet, no longer require variances, according to Kelly Risotto, who represented the landowner. However, some of the septic systems require greater variances than those originally needed and are closer to the the wetlands surrounding a small pond known as Lion Head Pond East — 148 feet, 125 feet, and 115 feet from the wetlands where 150 feet is required. And, despite the zoning board having denied variance requests for pools and decks on the properties in 2008, the owner is again asking for pools on each lot. 

This time, the pools are proposed more than 100 feet from wetlands, and while natural resources permits are still required for their construction, variances are not.

Most neighbors who appeared at the meeting to speak against the application asked that the three parcels be acquired with money from the town’s community preservation fund. The 2005 Comprehensive Plan recommended that the lots be purchased, characterizing them as land with “Hog Creek frontage, and wetlands.” Brian Frank, the town’s chief environmental analyst, said that the ponds in the area may have at some point in time been connected to Hog Creek, but they are not now. A swath of land northwest of the pond is preserved open space. 

But, as Mr. Frank pointed out, purchase through the community preservation fund requires a willing seller and the property owner has yet to indicate such willingness.

Henry Schwatzman, who lives next door to two of the lots on Pond Lane, took neighbors’ requests to the town board on March 24, asking it to consider public purchase of the properties. 

Mr. Schwatzman, who hired his own engineer to review the application, said on March 22 that in addition to attending the zoning board meeting, he and William Graner, his engineer, also attended the County Health Department’s Board of Review meeting to oppose variances for the septic systems. Still, the county approved the systems 75 feet from his well. (Final county approval is subject to the town zoning board’s approval.)

Mr. Graner pointed out what he perceived to be a number of inaccuracies in the plans Ms. Risotto presented to the board, saying they were “a little deceptive in what they’re showing.” 

Philip Gamble, the zoning board’s chairman, seemed surprised that the county did not take Mr. Schwatzman’s protests into account. Ms. Risotto told him that engineers from the county found that the natural grade slopes toward the pond and away from Mr. Schwatzman’s well.

Mr. Schwatzman said Theresa Joslin, a principal of the what he called the Joslin Lions Head “development corporation,” is “trying to force through variances” to increase the value of the properties. “They want to get the maximum dollar bang out of the property they have,” he said.

“The impact is going to be tremendous,” said Howard Persky, who has lived at his Isle of Wight house for 30 years. He called the neighborhood a “small, sensitive area.” Lion Head Pond East is the “only pond that’s healthy in that community,” said his wife, Willa Persky, echoing his comments.

Mr. Schwatzman told the board that Ms. Risotto offered some neighbors of the project a connection to public water in order to mitigate the fact that their drinking water wells are within 150 feet of the proposed septic systems. Mr. Schwatzman, along with another neighbor, Dorothy Rossi, have not accepted the offer. 

“I have a right to maintain my well,” said Mr. Schwatzman. Ms. Rossi pointed out that she would have to pay the Suffolk County Water Authority to have water extended to her house from the public main. Ms. Risotto said the developers would reimburse her for those costs.

The board continued to listen to neighbor’s concerns long into the night and chose to leave the record open until April 19 to give the East Hampton Town Trustees time to weigh in on the proposal. The trustees own the bottomland of Lion Head Pond East and were not properly notified of the zoning board hearing.­

“I make a motion that we meet every single day until we figure this out. This is what we were elected to do, “ said Alison Anderson, three hours into the East Hampton School Board meeting on Tuesday night.

After two public budget sessions at the end of March, attended by a largely vocal group of frustrated parents, teachers, and taxpayers, it ís back to the drawing board on the proposed $65.9 million district budget. Two more  budget meetings were set for tomorrow and Saturday before the board is expected to vote on Tuesday.

Along with $2 million from the district’s fund balance that is to be put toward next year’s budget, Raymond Gualtieri, the district superintendent, said he hopes to reduce the amount to be raised by taxes by an additional $1 million.

The district now plans to take $2 million from the its accumulated fund balances, or surpluses, to return “to the community” as it has been doing “each year for the last eight years,” he said. Doing so will bring the 2011-12 increase in spending down to 1.68 percent over this year’s $64.8 million budget and carry a 6.94-percent increase in the tax rate, or $3.27 per $100 of assessed value. 

“It’s possible that as we sharpen our pencils and pull out our calculators, that number could go up to $3 million prior to the vote,” Dr. Gualtieri said. That would translate to a 6.26-percent tax increase. Some of the $3 million might come from cuts, although it is possible that it might come from the fund balance, Dr. Gualtieri said.

State law allows fund balances to be up to 4 percent of the total budget each year. Money taken from such balances is reflected in the budget as a levy reduction, which, along with the $18.7 million in expected revenues, brings the amount to be raised by taxes to about $45 million.

Ira Bezoza, a member of the recently organized citizens budget committee and a founder of the Group for Good Government, came to the podium with questions about the surplus money.

“Four percent of the budget is about $2.5 million,” he said. “If you can give back $3 million out of that, it seems the district over-budgeted last year by $5.5 million.” 

Calling past budgets “extravagant,” he said, “Unless you’re sure the cuts you’re making won’t affect the children or staffing, I suggest going into the $5 million plus of unspent money before you cut without knowing the impact.”

Just how large the fund balance was estimated to be at budget time last year was an open question. Isabel Madison, asked last week what the balance is now, said that would not be known until June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

“We’re paddling like ducks under water,” Dr. Gualtieri said. “This is foremost in everybody’s mind. We will have a final budget number on Tuesday, and we’ll explain how we came to it. There may be cuts. We’ll be married to the number, but not how we get to it.”

“I want to get next year’s budget into this,” Paul Fiondella, a frequent board critic, said. “I don’t think people really understand what the [proposed state] 2- percent tax cap could do. We’re behind the eight ball here. Next year is going to be the crunch.”

Ms. Anderson’s rallying cry came at this point in the meeting, eliciting applause from the smattering of those in the audience who held on until late in the evening to hear it.

“I mean, shouldn’t we be working around the clock until this is done?” she asked. “I didn’t even have a chance to give my input on the budget until yesterday.” She was seconded by George Aman and the two additional meetings were scheduled. The meeting tomorrow will be from 6 to 10 p.m.; the Saturday meeting is from 2 to 5 p.m. They are open to the public, unless personnel issues need to be discussed, in which case the board would adjourn to executive session.

The meetings are planned to be held in the district office, but may be moved to the high school’s auditorium if there is larger than expected turnout.

The board is to adopt its proposed 2011-12 budget at the Tuesday meeting in the auditorium, which begins at 7:30 p.m. The annual budget hearing is set for May 3, with the budget and election of board members going to a vote on May 17. Nominating petitions are due in the office of the district clerk by April 18.

In the wake of $231 million in rate overcharging by the Long Island Power Authority over the past few years, and what he views as a weak effort to address the problem, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. signed on as a co-sponsor this week of legislation to replace LIPA’s appointed board with an elected one.

    LIPA seems poised to resist the change.

    At issue is an accounting error, as described by LIPA itself early this year, that led to customers being overcharged for “lost power,” or energy that is wasted between electric grids and consumers’ homes. LIPA’s board, currently composed in equal parts of appointees of the governor, Senate majority leader, and Assembly speaker, determined to resolve the issue by returning slightly more than half the money (or about $129 million) in rate cuts over a three-year period.

    “LIPA overcharges its customers and then quietly tries to approve a plan that returns only half of the money over a three-year period through incremental rate cuts,” Assemblyman Thiele said in a release. “This is unacceptable and amounts to larceny of public funds. An elected board wouldn’t even attempt something so outrageous. LIPA is both incompetent and arrogant.”

    Reached by phone on Friday, the assemblyman said, “LIPA needs accountability and oversight. It has been able to raise rates with no checks and balances, unlike any other government entity.” Though he acknowledged that some improvements could be made under current law, like subjecting LIPA to more rigorous enforcement, including the Public Service Commission’s scrutiny, he said that would not be enough, pointing to Long Island Lighting Company (acquired by LIPA in 1998) cost overruns in Shoreham despite the commission’s having had enforcement powers in that case.    

    In a telephone interview on Tuesday, LIPA’s communications director, Vanessa Baird-Streeter, defended the appointed board members as “extremely accomplished people, with backgrounds in a variety of positions, all of whom are Long Islanders and LIPA rate-payers.” She went on to suggest that electing LIPA’s board would politicize its decision-making. She defended LIPA’s decision to return only about half of the overcharges by identifying the need to hit income targets and remain financially viable.

    As an example of incremental rate adjustments in the past, Ms. Baird-Streeter pointed to a 2003 incident in which LIPA realized it was collecting too little in rates and compensated by slowly increasing them over the subsequent 10-year period. The overcharges currently at issue, she said, stem from a 1991 LILCO accounting practice that “worked at first” only to eventually be identified as troublesome by outside auditors.

    It is safe to say LIPA’s official position is that it does not support a change in the mechanism used to choose its board.

    The legislation Mr. Thiele is advancing was introduced by Assemblyman Bob Sweeney of Babylon, and passed the Assembly last year only to die in the Senate, meaning it would need to pass in the Assembly again this session. Its prospects for short-term passage are not good, with the budget fight guaranteed to consume most of the oxygen in the capital until April at the earliest.

    In an effort to provide town ordinance enforcement officers with a way to identify and eliminate illegally overcrowded housing, the East Hampton Town Board has been talking about placing limits on the number of cars that can be parked overnight on residential properties.

    However, during a discussion of that potential legislation on Tuesday, the board began to veer away from the idea, citing problems in determining just how many cars should be allowed and an ability to achieve the same objective in other ways.

    The thinking was that if numerous cars are regularly parked overnight outside a particular house, it could be an indication that numerous people reside there — perhaps more than the number allowed under the town code or by the state building code, which requires a certain minimum number of square feet per person, per bedroom.

    But large families with grown children, and people who simply collect cars, could exceed a limit on parked cars, the board pointed out, and those are not the situations being targeted.

    The question of whether a certain number of cars parked outside a house is offensive, aesthetically, and should be controlled, is a separate one, the board said Tuesday. “What we’re really interested in is whether or not it’s an indication of overcrowding,” Councilwoman Theresa Quigley said.

    By making observations over a number of days, each morning, for instance, Councilman Pete Hammerle said, ordinance enforcement officers could determine if the cars parked outside a residence appeared to belong to different adults sharing a house. They could then develop the evidence needed to seek court permission to investigate.

    Ms. Quigley suggested enacting a law that would list various conditions at a single-family house that might point to housing code violations. The code already contains such “indicia” in some sections, she said.

    “Could we have a law that said, if these indicators are there . . . we have a presumption that you are violating the town code?” she asked. For instance, if officers observe things such as separate entrances or multiple electricity meters, it could provide the basis for a warrant to be issued.

    Town attorneys have been asked to review the suggestion, which will be discussed at a future board meeting.