Proposed Brookhaven budget hikes property taxes by $18 a month

If approved by the Brookhaven Town Council at its meeting on Nov. 19, the average Brookhaven homeowner will see an increase in the town property tax of $18 per month, or $216, for the year starting Jan. 1.

The $361.2 million budget supervisor Dan Panico has proposed for 2025 is a 7 percent increase from 2024 and reflects higher pension and health care costs for town employees, finance commissioner Tamara Branson said at a budget hearing on Nov. 7. During the hearing, council members voted to authorize the town to increase property taxes by more than the state’s 2 percent cap.

The state is requiring municipalities to contribute more for employee health care and pensions, leaving Brookhaven “truly left without a choice,” District 2 councilwoman Jane Bonner said at the hearing.

Compensation and benefits for town employees constitute the largest budget expense at $155.4 million.

The town currently employs 872 full-time workers. That will shrink to 850 next year, thanks to an incentive program the town implemented this year, Branson said.

Brookhaven also expects to collect less revenue in 2025 from tipping fees at the town landfill, which is scheduled to stop accepting construction and demolition debris at the end of this year and close in early 2028.

One area that will see less spending under the proposed 2025 budget is the town’s Youth Bureau, whose responsibilities include crisis intervention, mental health counseling, and referrals for at-risk youth ages 12 to 24. Its budget would drop by 29 percent to $436,368, down from $614,930 in the 2024 adopted budget.

The 2025 budget funds one psychiatric social worker position down from the two funded in the 2024 budget.

Panico and several town council members said at the hearing that nonprofit organizations may be better positioned to provide those services rather than the town providing them. Perhaps the town would be better off increasing funding to nonprofits, Panico said.

But Tracy Kolsin, a Town of Brookhaven resident, who spoke at the budget hearing against reducing funding to the Youth Bureau, said Youth Bureaus serve an important role, including determining which services are most needed and which nonprofits can best provide them, he said in an interview.

Schools, for example, may provide services to at-risk students, but there are young people who don’t attend school or don’t feel connected to their school, said Kolsin, who is director of the Town of Southampton Youth Bureau. Kolsin said he was speaking in his capacity as a private citizen and not on behalf of the Southampton Youth Bureau.

The town’s share of the tax bill for Brookhaven residents amounts to 5.72 percent for those living outside of villages and 3.78 percent for people living in Patchogue and other villages within the Town of Brookhaven. Schools account for the largest share of the tax bill.