The Town of East Hampton's 2019 financial statement had "no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies," an auditor told the town board on Tuesday. The day before, the board announced that Moody's Investors Service has maintained the town's Aaa credit rating, the highest rating it can assign a municipality.
With the final payments on deficit financing related to budget mismanagement between 2005 and 2008 scheduled to be made in March 2021, and the town able to "set aside significant surpluses and build back reserves," East Hampton's finances are "quite strong, especially at this time of pandemic," Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said.
The 2019 annual report "meets all criteria" for the Government Finance Officers Association's Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, just as it has been since 2013, David Tellier of Nawrocki Smith L.L.P. told the board on Tuesday. "We were very happy at how records are being maintained, how internal controls are operating," he said.
The town had total assets of around $684 million and liabilities of just under $277 million at the end of 2019, Mr. Tellier said, leaving a net position of about $407 million. Speaking of the "governmental fund financial statements," which he described as "what's either going to be collected or what's coming due in the upcoming year, and what can be used for that upcoming year's budget and things of that nature," and are managed on a day-to-day basis by the finance department, the balance sheet lists total assets of $122 million and liabilities of about $26.6 million. "Which leaves you with a total fund balance of all the funds of about $94 million," Mr. Tellier said, an increase of 12.4 percent over the prior year.
The Community Preservation Fund balance fell by $3.9 million, but still had $35.3 million available for future land preservation. The town spent $24.9 million in 2019 for the purchase and acquisition of open space.
Mr. Van Scoyoc praised Charlene Kagel, the town's chief auditor, and Len Bernard, the budget officer, "who have consistently helped guide the town's finances from the post-financial crisis to where we are now."
In advance of a bond sale scheduled for this week, Moody's cited the town's "sizeable, affluent and growing tax base, strong financial position, and modest leverage" in reaffirming the town's Aaa credit rating. The town has maintained the rating since 2017 while repaying more than $20 million in deficit financing bonds dating from 2010 and 2011, in the wake of the financial crisis. The town's tax base is expected to remain strong and to continue to grow, Moody's said.
The Aaa credit rating, Mr. Bernard said, is "something we've worked very hard to get to."
Mr. Van Scoyoc told his colleagues that he would soon present a tentative budget, which must be submitted by Sept. 30. A public hearing must happen by Nov. 5 and the budget must be adopted by Nov. 20.
Also on Tuesday, the board held a lengthy discussion about the municipal parking lot north of Main Street in Amagansett's commercial district, which is undergoing a renovation and expansion. Forty-four spaces will be added to the lot with the addition of a new section at its northeast corner, bringing the total to 185 spaces.
The lot now has a mix of time restrictions: 30 minutes, two hours, and 24 hours. The hamlet's citizens advisory committee, said Councilman David Lys, the board's liaison to the committee, recommends a 72-hour limit in the new section for cars with a resident parking sticker; a two-hour limit for most of the main lot from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. between May 15 and Sept. 15, 24-hour parking placards for residents of the 10 apartments surrounding the lot that do not have off-street parking, and the current 30-minute limit for spaces in the lot's southerly row. Commercial vehicles should be prohibited, the committee recommended.
The lot will be repaved and restriped next month, Mr. Lys said, so the board must decide soon whether to agree to the committee's time-limit recommendations or modify them ahead of a public hearing next month.
Mr. Van Scoyoc opened the meeting with a recitation of recent statistics on testing for Covid-19 infection in Suffolk County. Between last Thursday and Sunday, he said, 214 people tested positive among some 22,000 tested, or just under 1 percent. The positive cases represent just 0.00014 percent of the county's 1.48 million residents, he said.
"While a good number, and I'm particularly proud of our citizens in East Hampton for keeping the rate the second lowest" within the New York metro area, "we need to continue to be vigilant. I ask that you follow all the safety protocols regarding Covid."
