Mr. Hubbard, a Republican, defended piercing the state’s 2% property tax cap for the fourth straight year, calling it “antiquated” during the showdown on Thursday, Oct. 16. 

Mr. Halpin, an independent running on the Democratic line, blamed the incumbent’s administration for leaving residents “out to dry” with rising costs. 

The exchange highlighted the central issue dividing candidates as voters prepare to choose a supervisor and two Town Board members Nov. 4.

Residents packed Riley Avenue Elementary School in Calverton for the forum, hosted by The Greater Calverton and Wading River civic associations – the only faceoff involving all the candidates after the Republican slate skipped two previous events hosted by civic groups they claimed were biased.

Riverhead’s five-member Town Board includes two other Republicans, Joann Waski and Denise Merrifield, who are not up for reelection this year.

Toqui Terchun and Sid Bail acted as moderators on topics that included taxes, land preservation, agriculture, development, affordable housing and environmental issues.

Supervisor battle

On the main card, Mr. Hubbard pushed back over criticism of his tentative 2026 budget, which exceeds the state-mandated tax cap by more than five percentage points.

The supervisor noted the pension system, health insurance, salaries and contracts alone pierced the tax cap – forcing him to cut nearly $600,000 in equipment from the budget to minimize increases. 

“Costs have gone through the roof — it’s out of our control,” he said. “Do yourself a favor and look at the budget online. … Do your homework — be smart, educate yourself.”

Mr. Halpin, a local pastor, countered that the last two tax cap increases motivated his supervisor run, arguing the board hasn’t done enough to generate revenue and reduce taxpayer burden.

“We’re always having these constant problems, and the entire time, [the residents] have been left out to dry,” Mr. Halpin said. “The reason the tax cap is there is to protect us. We need to have somebody in office that is making sure that those protections are done.”

The two also clashed over Riverhead’s Industrial Development Agency. Mr. Hubbard defended the IDA’s record, noting that 21 properties receiving benefits now generate $2.2 million in taxes, up from $720,000, while creating 1,362 jobs compared to just 39 before 2023.

Mr. Hubbard called the battle between development and preservation a “double-edged sword.” He suggested agritourism projects could be a solution to maintaining this balance, with 70% of land  preserved and 30% developed.

“Every piece of land that you preserve, you’ve lost that tax base. We have preserved over 17,000 acres in the Town of Riverhead, between open space and farmland preservation.” Mr. Hubbard said. “You have to have development, but you have to preserve land.”

Mr. Halpin called for stricter IDA oversight to ensure benefits target truly blighted areas instead of “continual renewals that are hurting our schools.”

Council races

The undercard battle featured incumbent councilmen Bob Kern and Ken Rothwell taking on Dems Mark Woolley, who is also Mr. Hubbard’s brother-in-law, and former FDNY firefighter Kevin Shea.

Mr. Woolley threw the first punch, referencing his opponents’ previous forum absences.

“I’m glad that the gentlemen to the left and to the right of me are here today, their political bosses allowed them to be here today,” he said.

Mr. Kern and Mr. Rothwell defended their economic development record, highlighting the town’s Emerging Technology Committee partnership with Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University.

Mr. Rothwell said the town has preserved over 400 acres through its Transfer of Development Rights program, which allows developers to buy rights from farmers.

“If no one buys the TDRs, that becomes problematic,” he said. “That’s where we need smart development in areas like EPCAL.”

Both Republicans defended the controversial Town Square project, emphasizing flood mitigation benefits and arguing that Riverhead needs the planned hotel as tourism grows.

Mr. Woolley also blamed rising taxes and fees for motivating his campaign, calling the TDR program “basically broken” and opposing agritourism developments that pressure farmers.

Mr. Shea, who works with Cornell Cooperative Extension, backed preserving farmland while questioning high-rise buildings in the Town Square plan.

“We’ve been farmland for a long time — when we do revitalization, we can’t forget that rural character,” Mr. Shea said.

The post Hubbard, Halpin clash over taxes, budget at only joint forum appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

The three incumbents — Town Supervisor Hubbard, Councilman Kenneth Rothwell and Councilman Bob Kern — have drawn heat for boycotting the meet-and-greets scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 30, and Saturday, Oct. 4, hosted by the Jamesport Civic Association and Heart of Riverhead Civic Association, respectively.

The trio will only participate in an Oct. 16 forum hosted by the Greater Calverton and Wading River civic associations at Riley Avenue Elementary School.

The GOP candidates object to Laura Jens-Smith, current Democratic Committee chair and former Democratic town supervisor, who leads the Jamesport group. They also cite concerns about Heart of Riverhead president Cindy Clifford, a Democratic Committee member and former employee of Ms. Jens-Smith.

“While we certainly believe in open debate and political discourse being a crucial and necessary part of the election process, we also, wholeheartedly, believe that the debates should be hosted by a nonpartisan unbiased entity,” Mr. Hubbard said in a statement sent to Riverhead News-Review on Friday, Sept. 26.

The supervisor called demands to participate in three forums “absurd” and “unreasonable,” noting that even presidential debates are limited to just one or two.

Mr. Hubbard said he previously proposed having a “nonpartisan, unbiased third party, local journalist” moderate a debate at Polish Hall, but claimed Ms. Jens-Smith rejected the idea.

Ms. Jens-Smith disputed the Republican claims in a Friday interview, saying no specific location was ever provided for the proposed alternative debate.

“My [Democratic Committee] candidates will debate them anywhere, anytime, anyplace — we are not limiting ourselves to any number of debates,” she said. “We believe that this is a service for the voters.”

She criticized the part-time council members for refusing to dedicate three hours over 40 days to voter forums, calling their scheduling concerns “shameful” and a “lame excuse.”

Ms. Jens-Smith emphasized she will not moderate the forums and described them as question-and-answer sessions rather than debates. The Jamesport Civic Association operates as a non-partisan organization that doesn’t endorse candidates, according to representatives.

“The purpose of the civics is for people to engage in a community and to be able to talk about what’s going on in that community. Officials from the town come and speak at our civics. We don’t say you’re a Republican you can’t come, or you’re a Democrat, you can’t come … We invite everybody,” Ms. Jens-Smith said. “It’s the Republicans that are making this civic engagement political.”

The Jamesport group maintains its invitation to Republican candidates for the Sept. 30 forum at Jamesport Meeting House.

Steven Kramer, vice president of the Heart of Riverhead Civic Association, said members are “very disappointed” by the Republican decision.

“Accepting the invitation of the Greater Calverton civic only serves to reinforce the view of many of our members who feel their voices and votes do not matter to Town leadership,” Mr. Kramer wrote.

In a statement, Ms. Clifford said civic leaders are “committed to and perfectly capable of separating personal political beliefs” from their service to civic members and Riverhead Town. She said the civic associations work to build a greater sense of community, boost engagement and strive to maintain a standard of being “non-partisan, while entirely pro-Riverhead.”

“Our members and guests benefit from having conversations, sharing lots of ideas and hearing different perspectives. We like to believe that our input is welcomed when we bring it to the town board, regardless of anyone’s personal beliefs,” Ms. Clifford wrote. “Instead, we are seeing our different opinions used in an attempt to separate ‘us’ and ‘them’. That is the polar opposite of our continual efforts to collaborate for Riverhead’s greater good.”

Ms. Clifford said the Hon. Greg Blass, a former Suffolk County legislator, family court judge, commissioner of Department of Social Services and “lifelong Republican,” will moderating the candidate forum for the Heart of Riverhead on Saturday, Oct. 4.

The post Riverhead GOP leaders defend decision to opt out of candidate forums appeared first on Riverhead News Review.

“It’s slowly diminished,” said Riverhead Councilman Ken Rothwell, who lives in Wading River.

The main culprit: motor oil that has run off from roads.

“There’s visible oil that runs off and is appearing in the ponds,” Mr. Rothwell said, adding that the water “comes down like a raging river” during heavy storms.

“It doesn’t look so good,” said Sid Bail, longtime president of the Wading River Civic Association, who watched the recent town meeting on the subject from home. “But up close and in person, it looks much worse.” For many years, there have been efforts to restore the pond, but none of them worked, mainly because of the cost of the job, officials said. Riverhead Town officials passed a resolution on Oct. 4, 2023, authorizing its Community Development Agency to seek federal grant money for work on the Duck Pond.

The town plans to collaborate with neighboring Brookhaven Town to get funding for dredging and replacement or repair of the bulkheads at Duck Pond, which straddles both towns. In 2005, Riverhead and Brookhaven planned to cooperate on repairs there, but Riverhead didn’t have enough funding, according to Riverhead town engineer Drew Dillingham, so the work was never done. The majority of the pond lies within Brookhaven Town, but most of the runoff and bulkheading issues are on its Riverhead side.

Mr. Rothwell said there no estimates for the necessary work, but he believes it will cost over $1 million.

Officials noted that Riverhead has been very successful in securing federal grants in recent years.

“I’m optimistic,” Mr. Bail said. “It’s been 30 years, but [the pond is] a great asset for the town.”

The post Town seeks funding to repair Wading River Duck Pond appeared first on Riverhead News Review.