The Island’s Community Housing transfer tax vote must await the absentee ballot count after unofficial early voting and Election Day results left the question nearly tied with only eight votes between nays and yeas.
Some 300 absentee ballots were requested by Islanders, and the Suffolk County Board of Elections is expected to take at least a week to complete its official count.
[UPDATE: Some absentee ballots were included in the count released earlier today, but not all, according to Heather Reylek, Shelter Island Democratic Committee Chair, who said 113 remain to be counted.]
Thus far, Proposition #3 has received 889 no votes (50.23%) to 881 yes votes (49.77%), according to the unofficial results posted on the BOE website early Wednesday. Follow this link to the site (which is operating on an NYS server while the county’s own websites are restored following a ransomware attack).
In other East End communities where the proposition was on the ballot, the measure appeared to pass by wide margins:
- East Hampton: 7,160 yes (68.54%) and 3,236 no (31.46%)
- Southampton: 12,469 yes (53.40%) and 10,883 no (46.60%)
- Southold: 6,617 yes (58.9%) and 4,618 no (41.1%)
The Town of Riverhead did not participate in the referendum but, under the Peconic Bay Region Community Housing Act, reserves the right to do so in the future (anywhere the measure is defeated, a Town Board may also submit the proposition again).
The state law enables the five East End towns to set up Community Housing Funds and to ask voters whether to approve a 0.5 percent real estate transfer tax to support local housing initiatives.
Each town’s vote impacts only that town, and any monies raised through a voter-approved transfer tax stay within the community for local housing needs (in accordance with guidelines in the state law and in required local Community Housing Fund plans). Where approved, the transfer tax would provide a steady stream of money to support housing, but a Town may use other revenue sources to seed its Community Housing Fund.
Written by NYS Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., the law is modeled on the popular Community Preservation Fund, which he also authored and has raised millions to preserve open space on the East End.
Like the CPF, the Community Housing Fund legislation won bipartisan support in the State Legislature. Governor Kathy C. Hochul signed it into law in October 2021. An earlier effort, which also won broad bipartisan support, was vetoed by then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
Two other propositions on the ballot passed by wide margins — the state Environmental Bond Act of 2022 and the imposition of a 12-year total time of service limit to certain elected offices in Suffolk County, including the County Executive, the County Comptroller, and county legislators (there was already a 12-year cap on consecutive terms).
Other results
In other results, Hochul — who was Cuomo’s running mate in 2018 and rose to the governorship after he resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment — beat her Republican opponent, U.S. Congressman Lee Zeldin. In doing so, she became the first woman elected governor in the state. She and her running mate for Lt. Governor, Antonio Delgado, received 52.7% of the vote statewide, according to the AP.
However, in Suffolk County — Zeldin’s home is in Shirley — Hochul and Delgado received only 41.3% of the local vote. Zeldin and running mate Alison Esposito had 58.54% of the county total, according to the unofficial results.
Democrat Letitia James also won re-election as NYS Attorney General with 54.2 percent over Republican challenger Michael Henry, but in Suffolk County had just 42.31% of the vote. Long-time NYS Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, a Democrat, also won statewide with 52.9% of the total, but in Suffolk County, had just 45.4% of the vote compared to Republican challenger Paul Rodriguez. (To see other state office results, follow this link.)
For Zeldin’s seat, former Suffolk County BOE Republican Chair Nicholas LaLota beat Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, a Democrat, with 55.81% of the vote to her 44.09%, according to the unofficial results.
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer kept his seat, winning a fifth term after a challenge by Joe Pinion, a conservative news host. Whether he will continue as majority leader remains to be seen.
In the NYS Senate, incumbent Anthony H. Palumbo, a Republican, garnered 56.39% of the vote over 22-year-old Democratic challenger Skyler Q. Johnson, who had 43.51% by the unofficial count.
In the NYS Assembly, Thiele, a Democrat, beat his Republican challenger, Peter G. Ganley III, with 54.71% of the vote to Ganley’s 45.16%.
For Shelter Island Town Justice, incumbent Mary-Faith Westervelt received 1,642 votes in her unchallenged race, where she had bipartisan support. A write-in candidate (or candidates) got 9 votes (or 0.55% of the total).
For County Clerk, Republican Vincent A. Puleo won with 58.9% of the vote, beating Democrat Lisa A. Jimenez. County Comptroller John M. Kennedy Jr., a Republican, fended off a challenge by Democrat Thomas E. Dolan, winning 59.95% of the vote.
Additional details, with breakdowns by election district, will be available once all votes county-wide are in. As of Wednesday morning, 16 of the county’s 1,058 districts had not yet posted results. The BOE said it had difficulty posting results due to a late-night Wi-Fi outage that resulted in some officials having to physically transport data stored on memory cards to election headquarters in Yaphank.
