East Hampton Town poised to spend $27.6 mil to fortify Montauk

The East Hampton Town Board is poised to spend $27.6 million via a 30-year agreement with New York State and the federal government to fortify Montauk against coastal storms. Jack Motz reports 27east.com that this agreement, if approved today, would be part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ larger Fire Island to Montauk Point Coastal Storm Risk Management Project, or FIMP — a plan that dates to the 1960s but, owing to bureaucratic hurdles only got moving in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Moving forward, the agreement would place the Town of East Hampton on the hook for 15 percent of the total cost of the Army Corps’s nourishment plan. A beach nourishment will likely take place every four years under the arrangement. For Montauk, this builds on the installation of geotextile sandbags in 2016, which were intended as a stopgap, pending a longer-term solution. The artificial dune the Army Corps initially constructed over the wall of sandbags was washed away the first winter the project was in place, and the revetment has intermittently been exposed, owing to erosion. Nonetheless, it has weathered the years and seemingly established a barrier between Montauk businesses and the ocean. Since FIMP got moving in the early 2020s, the Army Corps has provided full funding for one beach nourishment along 6,000 feet of shoreline in downtown Montauk. This, long awaited, came in early 2024. What the town’s new partnership agreement would do is ensure the beach nourishment projects happen in downtown Montauk every four years for the next 30 years. But this time the funding will break down differently. The federal government will cover 50 percent of the cost of the work, while New York State and East Hampton Town will split the remaining 50 percent — 70 percent to 30 percent, respectively. East Hampton Town officials anticipate the town’s share will even out to about $27.6 million over the course of the 30 years. At its meeting starting at 6 this evening, the East Hampton Town Board will have a resolution on its agenda whether or not to approve the Montauk beach nourishment agreement with the state.

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New funding for a program that last winter provided $370 million to help elderly and low-income New Yorkers keep their homes warm — with nearly $25 million going to Long Islanders — is in limbo this year because of the U.S. government shutdown. Billy House reports in NEWSDAY that this uncertainty comes as seniors and other vulnerable New Yorkers already face an energy affordability crisis, with over 1.2 million households statewide at least 60 days behind on their gas and electric utility bills, owing close to $2 billion.

But with the federal government locked in its shutdown, no federal funds for New York’s Home Energy Assistance Program have yet been allocated for its 2025-26 year.

"This federal funding is especially important at a time when rising energy costs continue to threaten the household budgets of many New Yorkers — and as temperatures begin to drop across the state," Anthony Farmer, a spokesman for New York’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, said in a statement yesterday.

Last year, about $20 million in heating help went to Suffolk County households.

Typically, it’s early November when OTDA opens the application process for the heating help, ahead of the coming winter, and it continues until the funds are exhausted. But with just two weeks to go, OTDA is still awaiting guidance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families on how to proceed.

The federal program, LIHEAP, usually releases funding to states multiple times a year based on complex calculations. Right now, there are no carry-over funds in the New York program that are unused and available.

LIHEAP overall has been under ongoing threat from President Donald Trump and his administration. Trump fired LIHEAP staff in the