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Recap: Town talks surpluses; board members argue over parking lot

NEWS-REVIEW FILE PHOTO | Riverhead Town Hall on Howell Avenue.
NEWS-REVIEW FILE PHOTO | Riverhead Town Hall on Howell Avenue.

Things even got heated at a Town Board work session Thursday, during a talk about downtown parking lots.

An argument between councilmen Jim Wooten and Councilman John Dunleavy resulted in the other three Town Board members briefly leaving the room.

The two continued to argue in front of the public.

It was also learned Thursday that Riverhead Town didn’t need to use as much of the town’s surpluses in 2012 as expected,  according to the town’s annual financial report for that year.

The report is required by the state each year and is unaudited, town finance administrator Bill Rothaar said Thursday. The town’s budget for 2012, which was adopted in November of 2011, allocated $2.6 million in fund balance to lower taxes, Mr. Rothaar said. But the town in 2012 brought in about $500,000 more in revenue than the budget anticipated, and spent about $1 million less than expected.

Because of this, the town only needed to use about $1 million in surplus funds in 2012, and not the $2.6 million it had anticipated in the adopted budget, Mr. Rothaar said.

The board also discussed moving the Lighthouse Mission’s food distribution program for the needy, which is run on Fridays, from the parking lot south of East Main Street to another spot.

To see what else was discussed at Thursday’s work session, read a recap of reporter Tim Gannon’s live blog of the meeting by clicking below.

 

 

May_30,_2013_-_Agenda by rnews_review