After the cyberattack on Suffolk County disrupted reports for several months, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. announced last week that revenues for the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund (CPF) for the first 11 months of 2022 show a significant decline.
A total of $160.78 million was collected from January through November of last year, while $195.05 million was collected for the same period in 2021 — a decrease of 17.6%.
“The impact of the Suffolk County cyberattack clouds the ability to make relevant month-to-month comparisons,” Thiele says.
“Regardless,” he continues, “there can be no doubt that there has been a significant cooling of real estate activities on the East End in the last few months. Whether it be attributed to the inevitable bursting of the COVID-19 market bubble, increased interest rates, stock market declines over 2022, predictions of a coming recession, or some combination of these factors, the conclusion must be that there has been a clear reduction in CPF revenues over the last three months.”
The cyberattack disrupted real estate filings with the county during September, October and November, which led to a delay in Thiele’s usual monthly reporting of the figures on the 2% tax on most East End real estate transactions. Those revenues go to the five towns for land preservation and water quality initiatives.
With the figures updated for the three-month period, Thiele reported Tuesday that the CPF generated $2.05 million in September, $7.24 million in October and $11.8 million in November for a combined $21.1 million. During those same three months in 2021, a total of $50.3 million was collected.
Still, the CPF generated $176.4 million in the last 12 months thanks to some major sales in 2022.
Since the program began in 1999, the fund has generated $1.971 billion.
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