Garant: Village Purchase of Tax Receiver's Building Unlikely

While Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine said in recent weeks that he was considering selling off the old Town Tax Receiver's Building – currently leased out to the Long Island Music Hall of Fame – and would like to Port Jefferson Village the first chance to purchase the building, Village Mayor Margot Garant said in a recent interview that it looks unlikely that would happen.

"I don't need to have another building on my hands," said Garant last week. "We still have beaches to do, roads, the power plant. The village unfortunately needs to take care of its own right now."

While next year's budget seems likely to pierce the state-mandated tax levy cap, taking on more expenses could be ill-advised, Garant said.

"We don't have the dollar bills."

Likewise Brookhaven Town – which is staring a deficit at the end of this fiscal year, according to Romaine – is in need of revenue.

Garant initially expressed concern at a board meeting in late March that the village might not play a hand at all in the town's sale of the building, however added last week that ultimately, whoever purchases the building will have to conform to current zoning.

Romaine believes the town could fetch anywhere from $1 million to $1.5 million for the building, and said last Thursday that one private party has expressed interest in it.

He did not abandon the idea of selling to the village, however.

"Board members may have a different view," he said.