Gov. Kathy Hochul said yesterday that inflation rebate checks still will be mailed to about 8 million New Yorkers despite the federal budget dealing New York a financial hit. The state had a cash surplus last year and there is no reason not to return the money to state residents, Hochul said. The state had a surplus of $3 billion during the 2024-25 fiscal year, largely due to "unanticipated revenue because of inflation," the governor said.

Yancey Roy reports in NEWSDAY that an estimated 1.25 million Long Islanders are expected to receive payments of up to $400.

New York is facing a different set of circumstances for the current 2025-26 fiscal year. Under the Trump budget approved by Congress in July, New York will see a shortfall of $750 million in federal funds — and another $3 billion federal shortfall next year.

The Hochul administration has leeway, granted by the State Senate and Assembly, to adjust the state budget to deal with the current-year cuts. They will deal with the future cuts when the 2026 legislative session opens in January.

As for the inflation rebates, Hochul and lawmakers approved those as part of a 2025-26 state budget deal in May.

Approximately $2 billion in rebates will be distributed to 8 million New Yorkers, according to the state Department of Taxation and Finance. Payments will go out in October.

To be eligible, you have to have filed a 2023 tax return and be below certain income caps: $300,000 for couples filing jointly; $150,000 for individuals.

The "inflation rebate" program is separate from the School Tax Relief (STAR) program, though those payments also are going out to Long Islanders this fall.

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Two Long Island communities ranked among the 10 most expensive ZIP codes in the country in July, with sellers in those Hamptons hot spots asking about 10 times the typical price for a home in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Jonathan LaMantia reports in NEWSDAY that Bridgehampton (11932) ranked third nationwide, with a median list price of nearly $8.5 million in July, according to data released this week by Realtor.com. Water Mill (11976) was No. 8 on the list, with a median asking price of $6.8 million.

Meanwhile, the median home price on Long Island, excluding the East End, was $725,000 in the second quarter, according to a report from brokerage Douglas Elliman and appraisal firm Miller Samuel.

Fisher Island in Miami Beach, Florida ($11.9 million) and Newport Coast in Southern California's Orange County ($9.1 million) topped the Realtor.com list, with Bel Air in Los Angeles ($8.2 million) and Montecito, California, just south of Santa Barbara ($7 million), rounding out the top five. Seven of the top 10 locations were in Southern California.

Of course, sky-high asking prices don’t always translate into sales. That’s why tracking the prices of deals that have closed often gives a better sense of real estate market values, said Judi Desiderio, senior vice president at brokerage William Raveis in East Hampton.

"It’s about what people are willing to pay," Desiderio said.

Luxury real estate often sells below the seller's initial asking price. In the Hamptons, about three-quarters of the homes that sold in the second quarter received below their last list price, according to the Douglas Elliman report.

Still, Smith, of Realtor.com, said the report’s focus on listings offers more timely data on the market as compared with data on closings, which become available weeks or months after a buyer agrees to a deal.

Home sales have been on the rise in the Hamptons, with 21% more deals closing through the first half of the year as compared with the same period in 2024, according to William Raveis.

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The Hampton Bays Civic Association will hold its monthly meeting this coming Monday, Aug. 25, at the Hampton Bays Community Center on Ponquogue Avenue in Hampton Bays. Doors open for refreshments at 6:30 p.m., and the meeting will begin at 7 p.m. The meeting will feature presentations from candidates running for director positions on the Civic Association board. Southampton Town Councilmember Rick Martel is also scheduled to provide an update on town issues. For more information, visit hbcivic.org.

That’s this coming Monday at 7pm in the Hampton Bays Community Center.

Per their website:

“The HBCA advocates for the Hampton Bays community to protect our fragile environment and infrastructure and to maintain and improve the quality of life of its residents. We work to keep the community informed through our monthly membership meetings, email correspondence and enhanced technology. "

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The Suffolk County Water Authority and Riverhead Town seem ready for a fight over Riverhead’s assertion that the water company will need town permits to place an 8.5-mile stretch of water main through town roads en route to Southold, and Southold is ready to back up its neighboring town. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that amid warnings this summer about the dire state of its ability to pump and store water from the North Fork’s limited underground aquifer, the Water Authority began environmental review of the North Fork Pipeline, which it has been keen to build for decades.

The agency plans to run a 24-inch diameter water main capable of delivering 6,000 gallons per minute from a well field atop the groundwater divide near Suffolk County Community College’s Riverhead campus, up Route 105 to Northville Turnpike and then to Sound Avenue, where it will continue into the Town of Southold.

Both Riverhead and Southold towns had asked the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to be the ‘lead agency’ coordinating review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), but the DEC had instead granted that authority to the Water Authority in the fall of 2024, essentially allowing it to perform regulatory review of its own project.

While the DEC decision granting the Water Authority lead agency status listed Riverhead Town as an “involved agency,” because much of the work would be done in Riverhead Town, the Water Authority instead classified Riverhead as an ‘interested agency,’ which would have less oversight over the project.

This rankled the Riverhead Town Board, which held a public hearing this past Tuesday on a “Monroe Balancing Test,” a nine-point state legal framework for whether local municipalities have control over regional projects.

At the hearing, Suffolk County Water Authority attorney Brody Smith said the Water Authority is “clearly the appropriate entity” to take on the project, and that it serves a public purpose, adding that a second phase would hook up Orient residents whose private wells are contaminated with PFAS, providing “as many as 3,000 residents with clean potable water.” He added that Riverhead regulation could “severely delay” the project, which is a “regional problem that requires a regional solution.”

“Does this serve a public purpose? Of course it does,” he said.

***

Riverhead residents this past Tuesday weighed in on the town's pitch to freeze new cannabis store approvals for one year during a public hearing, with some residents concerned about their rapid growth while marijuana advocates warned the move could push consumers back to the illicit market.

With two marijuana dispensaries up and running and at least five more proposed, Riverhead is weighing the freeze to evaluate state laws and assess local impacts.

Tara Smith reports in NEWSDAY that the proposed moratorium would pause approvals on new dispensaries while the town seeks clarity over zoning control. Riverhead’s proposal comes after a Suffolk judge struck down portions of town code that are more restrictive than state rules when it comes to distances between dispensaries.

Councilman Ken Rothwell, who voted against opting in to legal sales in 2021, worked on a committee to draft Riverhead’s zoning. The town's code requires dispensaries be along major commercial corridors and spaced 2,500 feet apart.

Gahrey Ovalle, president of the Long Island Cannabis Coalition, told the town board that a moratorium is the wrong approach.

“Riverhead has opted into cannabis retail, and you don’t have the right to opt back out. That ship has already sailed,” he said, adding the moratorium is an attempt to skirt rules.

Ovalle said stopping dispensaries from opening is a “green light for illicit sales.”

Residents who favor the moratorium said the town needs to “pause and reflect” on the impacts the industry has locally.

Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard said the issue is about Riverhead maintaining local zoning control.

“We haven’t had any issues with people, customers of the cannabis shops,” Hubbard said.

The Riverhead Town board is accepting written comments on the moratorium through Aug. 29 and could vote on the measure in September.

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Tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. in the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church the Perlman Music Program presents Violinist Oliver Neubauer who will be performing alongside pianist Chaeyoung Park as part of PMP's Alumni Recital Series.

Due to PMP's Shelter Island campus reconstruction, Friday evening's Stires-Stark Alumni Recital is generously hosted by Shelter Island Friends of Music.

Admission is FREE, but please note that seating is limited. Please arrive early to secure your spot!

Donations are appreciated and will be shared by Shelter Island Friends of Music and the Perlman Music Program.

The concert is tomorrow at 7pm in the

Shelter Island Presbyterian Church

32 North Ferry Rd. (Rte. 114), Shelter Island.

***

Traffic and what, if anything, can be done about it was on the mind of Sag Harbor Village Board members when they met this past Tuesday.

The board opted to hire the engineering firm L.K. McLean Associates to collect data about the cars and trucks that have held the village in a virtual chokehold for much of the summer.

Stephen J. Kotz reports on 27east.com that the firm will collect data from 20 different locations in the Village of Sag Harbor. It will include counting the number of vehicles that use Hampton Street and Division Street, as well as several small side streets — Nassau, Spring, Union, and Sage — in the heart of the village. The firm will also monitor the number of cars making turns at another 14 intersections, most in and around the business district.

Board members hope the data the firm collects will be useful in reconfiguring crosswalks and coming up with other measures to ease the traffic strain.

The firm will be paid $49,500 for the work.

The board agreed to pay for the study from an unassigned fund balance. It will be reimbursed next year when the village receives its share of ticket revenue from the state.

Sag Harbor Mayor Tom Gardella said although many people believe solving the traffic problem, short of erecting gates at the village’s entrances, is impossible, “I can’t just throw up my hands and say, ‘I can’t do anything about it,’” he said. “I have to try.”

He said the idea for undertaking the traffic study arose when Trustee Ed Haye suggested the village add crosswalks along Hampton Street. “If we are going to get serious, let’s do a study of the areas that are a problem,” said the mayor. “Why are we throwing darts at a board? Let’s look at the whole thing.”