Riverhead presents 2027 tentative budget: tax cap 2.79%, $116.9M operating fund

Janette, the town's financial administrator, presented highlights of the 2027 tentative budget: "all taxing districts are budgeted within the tax cap limit this year of 2.79% including the general fund." She said, "The 2027 general fund tentative budget exceeds the 2026 adopted budget in the general fund by 2.9 million." Janette told the board total appropriations for the town operating fund in 2027 are "116.9 million roughly, an increase of 4.1 million over last year."

Janette outlined revenue-side assumptions, including higher interest earnings from pooled municipal investments and slightly increased PILOTs. She also fielded a question about the adult-use cannabis tax, saying, "Um it was 400,000 last year. We raised it to 600,000. So just 200,000." Board members asked follow-up questions about legal fees tied to lawsuits; Janette deferred detailed legal-fee accounting to the town attorney and said many legal fees reflect property valuation litigation rather than the cannabis issue alone. The board did not take a formal vote at this session; Janette said the public hearing will be scheduled later and that staff will provide additional point-by-point tax impacts on request.