The Town Board and Highway Superintendent Mike Zaleski have agreed to a plan that will allow the highway department to collect loose leaves from the roadside for the remainder of 2022 and the entirety of 2023. 

The Town Board will pay for the leaf pickup through the general fund, rather than the highway department’s budget.

The debate over who should pay for leaf pickup goes back several years, as former highway superintendent George Woodson was involved in the same debate with the Town Board when he was in office. 

The two sides had agreed to seek an opinion from the state Attorney General’s office, which in turn contacted the state comptroller’s office. 

The comptroller’s office found a 1976 case involving Brookhaven Town that stated: “A town board may direct the highway department to collect on a regular basis leaves and brush placed on a town highway right of way by property owners, with the highway department’s expenses chargeable not to the highway fund, but to the general fund appropriation for refuse collection.”

The comptroller’s opinion states that the Riverhead Town Board “shall create general fund budget line(s) for expenses related to loose leaf pickup in the amount of $219,018.88 for the year 2022.” That was the number the town and Mr. Zaleski agreed was the annual cost of leaf pickup.

Problem solved? Not exactly. 

The Town Board said the $219,018 payment doesn’t begin until 2023, and Mr. Zaleski sought to use the funds during the remainder of 2022. 

An agreement reached before Tuesday’s Town Board meeting finally solved the dispute by transferring $194,100 from the general fund to the highway fund to cover the cost of leaf pickup for the rest of 2022.

The 2023 budget adopted this week by the Town Board for 2023 already includes funding for leaf pickup.

“They finally agreed to pay me the amount, so we can do leaf pickup in 2022,” Mr. Zaleski said Wednesday. 

“I’m allowing them to shave off the $25,000 that’s in the only leaf line in my budget,”he said. “I’m glad they finally came together and decided to do this. Now we can all just move on.” 

The $25,000 was in the department’s budget for paper leaf collection bags.

“I’m happy the Town Board is continuing this courtesy for the residents,” Mr. Zaleski said. “As far as my feelings? I’ve got leaves to pick up.”

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After years of arguing whether loose leaf pickup is a highway department job or a town responsibility, the Town Board and Highway Superintendent Mike Zaleski came to an agreement in October. 

The two sides asked for a legal opinion from the state Attorney General’s office, which in turn, contacted the state Comptroller’s office.

The Comptroller’s office found a 1976 case involving Brookhaven Town that stating: “A town board may direct the highway department to collect on a regular bases leaves and brush placed on a town highway right of way by property owners, with the highway department’s expenses chargeable not to the highway fund, but to the general fund appropriation for refuse collection.”

Thus, the highway department would be able to do the work, but the expense would come from the town general fund, not the highway fund.

The comptroller’s opinion states that the Town Board “shall create general fund budget line(s) for expenses related to loose leaf pickup in the amount of $219,018.88 for the year 2022.”  

And here’s where the snag comes in: Mr. Zaleski maintains that that $219,018.88 will come from the town and will enable the highway department to pick up leaves this year. 

If that money isn’t provided, he said, “I’m not going to do it.”

Town officials say that money comes from the 2022 budget, and Mr. Zaleski’s department already used that money to pick up leaves in January. 

The two sides were on the town work session agenda Thursday to try to iron out the situation. But Mr. Zaleski refused to attend. 

“I’m not going to any more meetings,” Mr. Zaleski said in an interview. “I’ve been to hundreds of meetings.”

He added, “the town is now trying to circumvent their legal responsibility to pay the highway department the agreed amount as stated by the state Comptrollers’ office.”

Both Mr. Zaleski and Supervisor Yvette Aguiar said their offices have been receiving letters and phone calls from residents asking why their leaves have not been picked up. 

Mr. Zaleski said in a letter to reporters after the meeting that the highway department has worked diligently on coming up with a legal solution to continue picking up loose leaves. 

He said that if the town doesn’t provide the $219,000, there will be no leaf pickup.

Town Board members said the money for leaf pickup will go in the 2023 budget.

“We agreed and Mike agreed to go by the findings from the state Attorney General‘s office,” said Councilman Tim Hubbard. “That finally came out this year in 2022. So we could not have budgeted the $219,000 from last year this year because that money didn’t come out until this year.” He said this money has been budgeted in years past for manpower, equipment and supplies. 

Councilman Ken Rothwell said Mr. Zaleski wasn’t even the highway superintendent until January of this year. 

Mr. Hubbard said, “We’re kind of at an impasse. He’s not going to pick up the leaves if he feels he hasn’t been paid or made whole for this year.”

Town Finance Administrator Bill Rothaar said that Nov. 20, 2021 was the deadline for the 2022 budget to be adopted, but the town didn’t even have a dollar amount for the cost of leaf pickup at that time.

Mr. Rothwell the problem should be fixed once the new year begins.

“If he does it, he gets paid,” he said. “If he doesn’t, he doesn’t get paid.”

Town attorney Erik Howard said Mr. Zaleski “is stuck with the budget that was implemented before he came into office.”

Ms. Aguiar said she’s hoping the issue is resolved soon. 

“Our office is getting a tremendous amount of calls asking about the leaf pickup,” she said. “I understand he’s told people to call the supervisor’s office because he’s not getting paid.” 

“The residents want this service,” she added. “Hopefully, we’ll see him next Thursday.”

The 2023 town budget is not expected to be adopted until Nov. 14, according to Ms. Aguiar. The 2023 town budget includes $221,000 for leaf pickup, although it doesn’t take effect until January.

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Newly elected highway superintendent Mike Zaleski sought to revolve the issue. 

In May, the Town Board and Mr. Zaleski agreed to seek an opinion on the issue from the state Attorney General’s office, which in turn, contacted the state comptroller’s office. The comptroller’s office found a 1976 case involving Brookhaven Town that stated: “A town board may direct the highway department to collect on a regular basis leaves and brush placed on a town highway right-of-way by property owners, with the highway department’s expenses chargeable not to the highway fund, but to the general fund appropriation for refuse collection.”

Thus, the highway department would do the work, but the expense would come from the town general fund. In Riverhead Town, all property taxpayers pay into both the general fund and the highway fund. 

That number should be increased each year, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency rate schedule. Supervisor Yvette Aguiar said in her 2023 budget message that “funding has been included to continue providing leaf pickup for our residents.”

The Supervisor’s 2023 tentative budget includes $221,000 for “leaf pickup.” The Town Board authorized the agreement between the Town Board and the highway superintendent for loose leaf pick up its regular board meeting on Oct. 4.

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