Southeast Debates New Building Dept. Position

By Holly Crocco

The Southeast Town Board it trying to chip away at the tentative proposed 2026 budget that was introduced by Supervisor Nick Durante in September and would raise the tax levy by 10.95 percent.

“I do think percentages are hard to sometimes accept,” Durante said at the Oct. 9 town board meeting. “What I’d like to speak to is the dollar amount.”

He explained that the 10.95 percent increase would equate to about $50 in taxes more next year for the average household.

“Southeast has the lowest town taxes in the county,” said Durante. “So with such a low tax rate, any addition is going to make the percentage look extremely high. The dollar amount is a much more reasonable explanation” of the increase.

One area the board focused its discussion on is the building department, in which Durante has proposed a new full-time assistant building inspector at a salary of $110,000. He said the hope is that when the current inspector retires, this person will be able to step into that position seamlessly. In the meantime, they can also help manage the increased workload in that department.

While Durante had originally also proposed two other positions in the building department, he has since removed them from the budget.

Part-time Zoning Enforcement Officer Peter Bell said the department is in need of more staff. “My opinion is you need three or at least two and a half (employees),” he said. “But I think there is enough work for three and a half.”

Board members said it would behoove the town to consider making a change to operations within the department before hiring more staff.

“There has to be an easier way, if your process is slowing everybody down,” said Councilwoman Wendy Lewis. “Maybe it’s more efficient that we look at the process and see if there’s technology, or just a more streamlined way to do it. And we’re not saying somebody’s not needed, but we need to look in all areas.”

Councilman Eric Larca agreed that the current processes are complicated.

“Maybe there’s a simpler way to do a building permit,” he suggested, noting that in this day and age, permits should be able to be submitted and paid for online. “These are things that we can do to set us up for the future… I’d rather spend the $150,000, $300,000, $500,000 to get everything online so that we don’t have to keep throwing money at (salaries). We need to understand what towns more sophisticated than us are doing.”

Bell said an online payment option would make the department much more efficient, as would digitizing files. However, he said the department is still understaffed –and will continue to be in the time it takes to update operations.

“There is no question in my mind, at all, that that (additional) person is needed,” he said. “Every one of our inspectors, including the building inspector, is booked very single day.”

Councilman Alex Mazzotta said a shift in the department’s operations needs to happen, which may include changing what the actual permit looks like, putting documents online, and accepting credit card payments online.

“All these things have to be done first, in my opinion, before we consider another body,” he said. “I wouldn’t be comfortable investing in another person until we’ve demonstrated that these items have been completed, and then if we’re still in the position of being overwhelmed, then I’d support it.”

Councilman Eric Cyrpus suggested the town start the process to bring the building department into more modern times.

“We’re not going to have the most efficient building department, with all the new software up and running, in just six months,” he said. “But we need to be committed to getting there because we’ve been trying to get there for the past several years and we’ve never taken the first step.”

No decision was made on the position.

When it comes to revenue, one line item that is up in the air is how much the town will be receiving from the sales-tax-sharing agreement with the county, although early estimates suggested Southeast will receive about $350,000 – which board members said will go far.

“Say we get $350,000,” explained Cyprus. “Let’s say $175,000 is for a brand new wish list project that we never would have thought of, and maybe $175,000 of it is something we were already going to do next year and we offset it with this money. That’s $175,000 (taken) out of the tax cap.”

A public hearing on the budget is scheduled Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. at Southeast Town Hall. To view the tentative proposed budget, visit southeast-ny.gov/415/2026-Budget.