East Hampton Town’s financial statements were given an unmodified opinion by its auditor, meaning its financial records are fair and correct, during a presentation to the town board on Tuesday.
Craig Hauser of the Nawrocki Smith accounting firm delivered a summary of the 2025 fiscal year audit to the board, for which field work began on April 27 and concluded on May 22. “There were no material weaknesses in internal control that were identified,” he said.
The town has total assets and deferred outflows of $1.1 billion, Mr. Hauser said. Capital assets total $858.5 million, primarily consisting of land, which totals $735.3 million. Total liabilities and deferred inflows of resources are $357.2 million. Of that, the bonds payable total $107.3 million, of which $12.7 million was repaid this year. Post-employment benefits total $136.9 million, an increase of $8.9 million over 2024.
“This left the town with a total net position of $732.9 million,” Mr. Hauser said.
“If you are wondering how the town’s currently doing, the fund financial statements are where you want to look,” he said. Total assets of all funds of $205 million are primarily related to cash and investments, and total liabilities of $26.5 million are primarily related to accounts payable and accrued liabilities for the current year.
A total fund balance of $163.8 million consists of $2.6 million, which is non-spendable. “Essentially, that’s money that’s already been spent, so it is an asset but it’s also a non-spendable fund balance as well,” Mr. Hauser said. Restricted reserves total $97.7 million, and $44.3 million is assigned fund balance. “This relates to open purchase orders of each fund as well as assigned fund balance of the town and appropriated fund balance,” he said. “That leaves the town with $19.2 million of unassigned fund balance,” a net increase of all funds of $12 million.
Total revenues and other financing sources including bonds are $210.1 million, compared to $184 million in 2024. “This increase is mainly related to the increase in real property taxes as well as the non-property tax items,” Mr. Hauser said. Total property tax revenue was $71.5 million.
Total expenditures and other financing of $198 million represent a decrease from 2024, which was $211.4 million. “This is mainly related to decreases that you’ll see in the community preservation fund.” Total debt service expenditures, relating to principal and interest paid by the town, were $15.6 million, representing about 8.2 percent of total expenditures.
“There are no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies,” Mr. Hauser said, “and we had no current year or prior year recommendations.”
Looking ahead, Rebecca Hansen, the town’s administrator and budget officer, said that “we seem to be on target” with the 2026 budget’s expenses and revenues, and “we’re getting deep into our 2027 budget prep,” with a tentative budget on track to be delivered to the town clerk by Sept. 30.
