Riverhead Town’s tentative 2027 budget to be presented at special meeting on Sept. 24

Riverhead Town Supervisor Jerry Halpin will present the tentative town budget for 2027 at a special meeting on Thursday at 10 a.m. at Town Hall. 

The presentation is open to the public to attend either in-person in the Town Hall board room or virtually through Zoom or Channel 22. The meeting is limited to strictly the tentative 2027 budget presentation and there will be no comment period. 

This will be Mr. Halpin’s first town budget since his razor-thin win last November against the former Republican town supervisor Tim Hubbard. The hefty 7.89% tax increase in the 2025 town budget drove the local pastor to run for office last year. 

Last November, the tax cap was pierced for the fourth consecutive time under Mr. Hubbard’s budget — hiking the townwide property tax rate to 6.74%. At the time, this drew sharp pushback from residents who urged the town board to consider slashing other expenses to avoid the override. 

Mr. Hubbard and fellow council members previously blamed the increases on unavoidable health insurance premiums, state retirement rates and contractual police raises that would have otherwise forced elimination of nearly 15 town positions.

To minimize the tax cap breach, at the time town officials denied all merit raise requests and added no new positions for 2026. The only salary increases approved then were for civil service promotions and a 3.25% raise for elected officials excluding Town Board members, matching contractual increases for CSEA employees.

In his first act as town supervisor back in January, Mr. Halpin cut his pay by more than $8,000 from the $118,919 approved in the 2026 adopted town budget for town supervisor.

In the last nine months of his first term, Mr. Halpin has also proposed a retirement incentive plan for eligible union employees to curb future tax hikes ahead of budget season. This program was unanimously approved by the Riverhead Town Board earlier this month. 

In an interview before the special town board meeting, Mr. Halpin declined to provide further insight into what the tentative 2027 budget entails. 

“It’s gonna be a good day on Thursday,” the supervisor said.

The town supervisor serves as the budget officer and is in charge of collecting detailed estimates of revenues and expenditures for the next fiscal year filed by each department head. After reviewing these estimates, the supervisor prepares a tentative budget, which includes his recommendation. 

This tentative budget must be filed with the Town Clerk no later than Sept. 30 and the meeting to present it must be held on or before Oct. 5, according to the town website. The Riverhead Town Board then reviews the tentative budget and makes whatever changes they deem necessary and are consistent with the provisions of the law. 

Following this review and revision process, once approved by the town board, the tentative budget becomes the preliminary budget. A public hearing on the preliminary budget is required to be held on or before the Thursday immediately following the general election on Nov. 3. 

The Riverhead Town Board adopts the preliminary budget as amended no later than Nov. 20 and this becomes the official annual budget. Any changes to the annual budget during the new calendar year must be approved in a resolution by the Town Board. 

For more information on the special town board meeting, visit townofriverheadny.gov.