Islip Town expected to pierce tax cap for 3rd straight year, comptroller says

Islip Town is expecting a tax hike for 2027 that will pierce its state-imposed cap for the third year in a row, according to town Comptroller Joseph Ludwig, who pinned the pending increase on substantially higher sanitation costs in a contract approved earlier this year.

The cap is part of a state law that restricts how much local governments can increase their tax collection each year. The exact cap changes annually based on each municipality's finances, though Islip’s usually floats around 2%.

Islip’s town board voted to override its cap in 2025 — the first time since 2017 — and then again last year, driving a 27% increase to the typical town tax bill over two years.

Supervisor Angie Carpenter said the hikes were mainly needed to cover increased employee costs tied to new town worker union deals.

Islip's current $289 million budget reflected an increase of $10.5 million over the 2025 plan.

Roughly six months before the 2027 town budget is due, Ludwig said Islip is already guaranteed to pierce the cap again. He cited a $4.1 million increase in garbage disposal spending between 2026 and 2027, which was part of a contract approved by Islip's five-member town board in February. That's a 38% year-over-year increase.  

Ludwig said that while a garbage-contract increase isn't unexpected, "that is more than I expect the cap increase to be. So ... since it’s a known quantity at that point, why am I going to wait until September [to address the cap]?" 

The new garbage disposal contract totals will cost Islip Town about $14.9 million in 2027, up from roughly $10.8 million this year. The contract will be in place for the next seven years, though the town did not specify whether the annual cost would remain the same for each year of the contract.

It requires the contractor to use garbage trucks made no later than 2025 — the previous contracts allowed trucks from 2010 — and it accounts for cost of living increases since 2021, Ludwig said. Also, he said, "Gas prices now are north of $4 a gallon. Two years ago, they were $2 and change a gallon."

Ludwig and Carpenter, who also helps craft the town's annual budget, asked the town board last month to greenlight the 2027 tax cap piercing. 

Aside from Carpenter, the town’s four board members — two Republicans, a Conservative and a Democrat — declined to vote on the proposal. Carpenter was the lone vote against tabling the measure. 

Conservative John Lorenzo and Republican Michael McElwee said they were in the dark as to why such a proposal was needed.

“We have not yet had the opportunity to fully sit down with our commissioners to evaluate our financial position or determine what challenges and priorities we may be facing as we begin planning for the 2027 budget,” McElwee told Newsday via text. He added, "We are still very early in the process."

Islip Town's budget plans during at least the past two years also have encountered roadblocks and triggered disagreements among officials.

Town board members declined to vote on the 2026 budget, citing a lack of information shared by the supervisor. That proposed budget ultimately passed last November when the board failed to cast a final vote, which triggered its automatic adoption, as required by state law.

By Sam Kmack

sam.kmack@newsday.com

Sam Kmack covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and previously worked as a city watchdog reporter in the Phoenix metro area, as well as an investigative journalist at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.