The South Fork’s school districts are beginning to finalize proposed budgets for the coming year, and some boards appear willing to ask voters to authorize going above the so-called 2-percent tax cap. As tough as this might be for some residents, it reflects the fact that in most cases there are few places to make further cuts in spending after years of forced belt-tightening. Ultimately, districts and taxpayers alike will have to wait for an overhaul of the way public schools are funded in New York State to get relief — and that could be a long time coming. 

Bridgehampton has said it will bring a roughly 9-percent tax levy increase to voters on May 17. It is anticipated that Amagansett also will seek to pierce the cap, with a 3.7-percent increase. Although all local districts will have annual balloting that day, it is not clear what the story will be in the other districts; more will be known by next week.

So far, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s tax cap has been all stick and no carrot. When he imposed it in 2011, the intention was to force local governments, municipalities as well as schools, to cut costs and perhaps to begin thinking about joining forces. From the outside, this seems to make sense, particularly on the administrative side. There is almost no plausible justification for the Wainscott School District to have its own part-time $55,000-a-year superintendent while the equally microscopic Sagaponack School District has its own superintendent, pulling down $53,793 annually. Then there is Amagansett, whose superintendent gets $188,000 a year plus a house and equipment allowance. Speculating about what would happen if districts were to merge, it’s clear that some people would lose jobs but the real cuts would most likely be made at the top. Perhaps this is why some administrators jealously protect the status quo.

More than tax levies, though, it is contrary to the very spirit of public education that some districts are swimming in money and enjoying adequate space in well-appointed buildings, while others, like Springs and to a certain measure East Hampton, are forced to struggle with growing populations and students with widely disparate abilities. As voters think about the tax hikes next month they might also ask themselves whether the time for far greater changes has finally arrived. 

Pity the poor person who tries to do something nice for children in these parts. Case in point: the East Hampton RECenter.

Twenty-odd years after taxpayers defeated a swimming pool at East Hampton High School, there is still no indoor public swimming facility within how many miles? No swim-team scholarships. No indoor training to supply lifeguards at public beaches and private pools. No place where those who ply the seas can learn to swim. No place that offers aquanautics for seniors.

A pool, of course, is only one amenity of a phantom youth center that has been needed for generations. At long last the East Hampton Youth Alliance takes on the task, energetically raising funds for a first-class center across the street from a public school.

Delighted Main Street merchants rub their palms, anticipating the day when adolescents will repair to the new center instead of to their traditional hangout on the steps of the old V.F.W. Building. Then, three weeks ago, five years into the planning stages of the center, for which ground is to be broken this month, neighbors emerge to oppose the project:

"It's frightening. This is our backyard."

"The majority of neighbors do not want this in this area. It does not belong here."

"The bad kids will be expelled from inside, spill out to the neighborhood, and there will be vandalism."

"How late at night will kids be able to use the steps?"

Case in point: Lions Field in Montauk. An expansion is proposed that would create the only community playground in the hamlet, enough space for its popular soccer and softball leagues to coexist without rancor, and an in-line skating rink, all conveniently near the center of town.

The town agrees to fund the project, but the plan is opposed by those who fear that youths will, among other things, intimidate homeowners in a nearby apartment complex and create too much noise outside a seasonal movie theater.

The proposed solution? Move the facility to Camp Hero, a remote park about seven miles east of almost everything else in the community, where supervision and transportation are guaranteed to pose problems.

Case in point: the Sag Harbor skateboard park. Skateboarding is banned on the streets and sidewalks of Sag Harbor and East Hampton Villages, and from the sidewalks of downtown Amagansett and Montauk.

A group of Sag Harbor skateboarders persuade the Sag Harbor School District to set aside a small area for skateboarding and manage to raise thousands of dollars for the park. There is talk of making the park "a generational bridge" by eventually adding shuffleboard, boccie, and chess, and of fencing the facility at night to insure its security.

Again, neighbors protest, insisting that a better place can be found. The insurer backs off on its promise to cover liability, and the plans continue to collect dust.

In the case of each project there are legitimate concerns - about traffic, safety, and/or damage to the environment - which deserve to be addressed. Nor can the impact of noise and lights on those who live nearby be underestimated.

But fear is also at work - and a mentality that says keep those you fear out of sight. What are our young people to make of this? Where, exactly, would we like them to go?

On a barge to nowhere or a satellite orbiting the globe?

Adequate recreational facilities and well-run youth centers should be basic ingredients of small-town life. Vandalism and intimidating behavior by youngsters in public places are best approached by offering them something better to do.

It takes a village to make its youngsters feel like members of a happy and healthy community instead of lepers. We've got the choice.

The so-called Panama Papers scandal, which took down Iceland’s prime minister on Tuesday, may seem a long way from eastern Long Island. Because the ownership of many of the most valuable properties here remains secret, however, just who might be hiding next door, so to speak, is a good question. Given concern by United States authorities about possible international money laundering ties to luxury real estate, there is reason to suspect that this region could be involved.

It is difficult to imagine a bigger financial story than the one that broke Monday about an enormous cache of documents from a Panamanian law firm that appeared to specialize in aiding the rich and powerful from around the world in their efforts to hide wealth, including ill-gotten gains. Although American interests have been relatively few in the initial revelations, some are sure to come from among the roughly 11.5 million documents that were leaked.

The common thread between the Panama scandal and the South Fork is a desire of those with the money to keep out of view. Transactions here often involve anonymous limited liability corporations or trusts, which make it all but impossible to know who is buying what, or what the ultimate direction might be when a project needs review by local regulatory agencies. One recent example was the shadowy entity called ED40, whose hidden principal or principals hired a couple of local front men as they sought to convert the East Deck Motel in Montauk to a high-end members-only surf club.

 L.L.C.s and other forms of private partnerships can be legitimate legal strategies for dealing with tax and inheritance issues; their use is not in itself the problem. The New York Times has found that an increasing number of foreign buyers have been using shell companies — like some of those unveiled in the Panama Papers — to find safe investments for dirty money in the United States. As reported extensively in The Times earlier this year, the Treasury Department is planning a trial effort to root out illicit money in high-end real estate deals in Manhattan and South Florida. For the first time, real estate companies in those markets will have to name the individuals behind cash transactions. The Treasury Department could widen its net beyond Manhattan and Miami if early results indicate the problem is as widespread as indicated. It would be naïve not to assume that some of that money flowed toward this area. 

At a local level, partnerships registered in U.S. states that allow anonymity need not be the stuff of international intrigue to be troubling. More information rather than less is key to making good land-use decisions. Knowing who or what is behind a particular project makes sense. This is made acute as more corporate interests focus here, particularly in Montauk, where redevelopment of former mom-and-pop hotels and restaurants appears at a fever pitch. 

Just who government is doing business with should be clear in all cases. While the public might be out of the loop, hidden ownership presents too-easy opportunities for corruption, as seen abundantly in some of the recent Albany scandals.

Think, too, of the record sums of sketchy L.L.C. money tied to East Hampton Airport interests and out-of-town helicopter companies that flooded the November election. Though the Republicans, to which all that cash went, were soundly defeated, that might not have been the case at another time and on another issue. 

It is time that officials work harder to pierce the clouds of secrecy. If the sources of money are legitimate, the owners of the L.L.C.s and the like should have nothing to hide.

It has been a long time since a New York presidential primary really mattered. And it has been a long time since a primary season has generated anywhere near this level of interest among East End residents. No matter where one might be on the political spectrum, the big-picture debates about the direction of the country have been significant. 

Hillary Clinton, in recent polls, is favored to win in New York, as is Donald Trump. Mrs. Clinton’s ascendancy is not surprising, given her time representing the state in the Senate and her and her husband’s general popularity here. Mr. Trump’s appeal is also obvious, if for what we consider profoundly wrong reasons. The expected Republican also-rans, John Kasich and Ted Cruz, seem hardly the sort of candidates who could win in such a populous and diverse state as this. As could have been expected, Mr. Cruz, the Texas senator who infamously decried “New York values,” came in last in a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. As for Bernie Sanders, were he to outvote Mrs. Clinton in New York it would be a surprising upset, according to predictions.

As much as this year’s choices have reflected a sharply fragmented electorate, the measure of ourselves it holds up is valuable. This year may well be a crossroads, and we welcome New York, for once, at the center of it.

You know the sound. It’s a lovely weekend afternoon and suddenly you hear the thudding of shotgun blasts. A small group is off in the distance target shooting. When you check the beach later, it is covered with spent casings and fragments of orange-and-black clay pigeons. You are outraged at the mess and the double standard — littering and disturbing the peace is illegal, unless you happen to have been firing a gun. 

That is what one of our readers must have thought when she gathered up a large quantity of shotgun shells and plastic wadding at Fort Pond Bay in Montauk recently and sent us a photograph. Beach walkers in Amagansett might also be puzzled at the noise from Albert’s Landing. A call to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation reveals that nothing can be done. Regulations allow for such things so long as the shooters are at least 500 feet from a house and, supposedly, clean up after themselves.

It was one thing when a few year-rounders did some shooting once in a while. But now, with eastern Long Island increasingly crowded, what made sense back then does not necessarily make sense anymore. Thought should be given to whether non-hunting shooting by the few should be limited to ranges, leaving our beaches and open spaces for quiet, leave-no-trace enjoyment. Unfortunately, perhaps, that time may have come.

Plum Island, a federal facility off the North Fork within eyesight of the South Fork and coastal Connecticut, could soon be sold to private interests unless a broad effort by officials at several government levels and environmental groups succeeds in having it set aside for preservation, most wisely as a national wildlife refuge. 

In a plan approved by Congress to move the animal disease laboratory there to a site in Kansas, the 840-acre island would be disposed of at auction. Opposition to its sale is considerable in the region, and many residents hope the auction can be blocked and the island returned to a more natural state as parkland or a wildlife reserve. 

According to the Group for the East End, Plum Island provides critical nesting sites for the federally threatened and New York State endangered piping plover and is seasonal home to as many as 190 other bird species. If that weren’t convincing enough, 40 rare or protected plants can be found there. In addition, there is history, in the form of the 1870 Plum Gut Lighthouse and the 1897 Fort Terry army barracks and weapons batteries. 

The push to prevent the sale of the island received additional support this week when Representative Lee Zeldin renewed a House bill that would block the planned auction. Mr. Zeldin, who is seeking re-election in the fall, has been a consistent backer of conservation efforts, picking up on the work of former Representative Tim Bishop, an advocate for preservation whom he defeated in 2014. New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kristen Gillibrand, along with Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, also have introduced a bill like that of Mr. Bishop and Mr. Zeldin, transferring the island to the Fish and Wildlife Service or National Parks Service. 

When the Department of Homeland Security recommended to Congress that the lab should be moved to Kansas, years ago, the thinking was that the money raised by selling Plum Island to the highest bidder would help offset the cost of the new facility. However, Southold Town changed the island’s zoning in the hope of dissuading developers. A Southold law passed in 2013 would allow for only education, research, or recreation on the portion of the island now used for the animal disease lab, and it prohibits development of any kind on a remaining 600 acres. This was a shrewd move, effectively slashing the potential value of the island by severely limiting its possible use for housing or even as an exclusive golf course and resort, as none other than Donald Trump at one time was said to have contemplated.

Those favoring the island’s preservation say that because the potential income has been reduced, the island’s sale is no longer worth the cost of losing such a precious asset. The Senate and House bills would remove a stipulation that it be sold.

It is almost unthinkable now, as interest in improving Long Island Sound’s water quality — and in tamping down traffic and infrastructure demands on the twin forks — is on the rise that any form of new, intensive use could be tolerated on Plum Island. In decommissioning the laboratory and restoring as much as possible of the island’s natural state, there is a rare opportunity to turn back the clock, protect the Sound, and create something that can be enjoyed for generations to come. Doing everything possible to save Plum Island should be at the top of the priority list for the region.

Five work weeks remain before Memorial Day, which hardly seems enough time for East Hampton Town officials to do what would be needed to maintain the delicate balance between the demands of summer and the interests of residents. There is a lot to do, and, while it is evident that all of summer’s ills cannot be solved in a single year, there is reason to worry that Town Hall remains satisfied with what is to many observers an unacceptable status quo.

May marks the beginning of the town’s new rental registry, which requires that landlords provide certain details about their properties and obtain a registration number, which must be posted in advertising. The town board’s intention in passing the measure was to provide better tools for the enforcement of existing laws about such things as occupancy and turnover. Judging from the virulent reaction to the registry from landlords, it appeared that there had been a hope that the old rules would not be enforced at all. 

Just what the impact will be on illegal shares, party houses, and de facto hotels remains to be seen, but the registry is a good start. The opposition should understand that the East Hampton Town law remains more lenient than in some other jurisdictions, where short-term rentals are banned altogether, for example.

With regard to restoring a sense of calm, next and more difficult on the town’s agenda should be taking on the out-of-control nightlife and bar scene. Though a recently revised town code on commercial gatherings gives officials a way to control outdoor events, for example, they have yet to take advantage it. 

Hotels, even those tucked in residential areas, have been allowed, unofficially, to grow and add amenities unrelated to the needs of overnight guests. Such illegal expansions began in earnest while Bill Wilkinson, a Republican, was supervisor and have only continued during the current Democratic town board majority. 

As new, deep-pocketed money pours into town, particularly in Montauk, it’s past time for a get-tough approach. Other than the rental registry, town officials seem afraid to take on the sources of so many of summer’s problems. We wonder how long it will be before the powers that be really begin putting residents first, instead of kowtowing to  businesses that leave little in return other than litter, noise, and chaos.

With the Springs Fire District commissioners’ decision to supplement its volunteer ambulance squad with professional responders, a last South Fork holdout has joined the ranks of those with paid emergency providers. This is important not only because it will help assure speedy response times but because it supports the cooperative agreement among the area’s many fire districts known as mutual aid.

A number of factors have combined to make paid E.M.S. personnel a necessity here in one form or another. These include a shortage of volunteers who have enough time during the day to become ambulance personnel, challenges to getting proper training and remaining certified, and demographic changes. The demographic factor may be key: As the baby boom generation ages, we are likely to see more frequent medical crises and increased demand. 

Then, too, the stagnation of middle-class wages has meant that in order to survive Americans these days have to spend a lot of time working — often at multiple jobs — which precludes any ability for some to become ambulance volunteers, no matter how much they may want to. Indeed, our local squads have had to cope with a steady increase in calls while their own numbers have declined. Taxpayers who will now pay for providers should do so willingly and without objection. The Springs commissioners, who had been reluctant to add paid service, deserve credit for taking this step. 

There is more yet to do for Springs. Its new program allowed the district to hire a basic emergency medical technician; it could hire someone with advanced training for only a few dollars more as other districts have done. Springs also needs a dedicated “first responder” vehicle, which would be costly once outfitted with the necessary equipment. Residents should support both.

Springs is the most densely populated hamlet in the Town of East Hampton. Every effort should be made so that its emergency medical response is second to none.

In the face of what seems to be increasingly outsized pressure, the East Hampton Town and Village Zoning Boards of Appeal seem to be getting tough. That’s a good thing. 

If there were a poster child for excess, a recently proposed more than 10,500-square-foot house off Huntting Lane in the village’s historic district would be it. Voting “no” on the project should be easy — it would exceed by about 25 percent limits on both floor area and how much of the lot would be covered. At a Jan. 8 hearing, board members were unimpressed when they learned the property owner, by his own count, had spent $600,000 preparing his application, and they denied his request at a subsequent meeting.

For its part, the town Z.B.A. has been asked for permission for a new, 4,400 square foot house and decks on a partially wetland site overlooking Accabonac Harbor. Board members and the town Planning Department appear set in their opposition. One neighbor said that, if built, the house would be Gerard Drive’s “first McMansion.” A “no” from that board may be ahead.

Whether or not one cares for McMansions, otherwise known as big houses on small lots, or worries about the character of Huntting Lane, one fact is inescapable: Pressure on the South Fork’s natural resources and existing infrastructure is immense. With most available land already subdivided, the zoning boards are the critical front line in the fight to preserve the area’s beloved sense of place. Thank goodness their members appear willing to get — and stay — strong.

It has usually been predictable that winter weather will arrive on the South Fork at around the end of January. This year, like last, saw a relatively benign December and first three weeks of January. Then, on Jan. 22 and 23, snow arrived in a storm that set records as nearby as La Guardia Airport. In terms of accumulation, the East End was spared its own new record, though the beaches took a pounding. Monday’s storm this week hit the shoreline hard again, setting up dangerous conditions in some places, with more than a month left in the usual winter northeaster season.

Forecasters say that because of an unusually strong El Nino above-average precipitation is likely along the Eastern Seaboard for the rest of the year. Research cited by the National Weather Service shows an increase in coastal storms in El Nino years, with high winds, lots of snow, and the potential for serious erosion.

The business about the groundhog not seeing its shadow notwithstanding, indications are that we are in for more heavy weather in the weeks to come. The 2015-16 El Nino is on track to remain one of the strongest ever observed. Batten your hatches, everyone.