The East Hampton Town Board has approved two new five-year intermunicipal agreements to provide Fire and EMS dispatch services to the Village of Sag Harbor and the Springs Fire Department. The agreements take effect February 1, 2026.
Both Sag Harbor Village and the Springs Fire Department have chosen to move their dispatch services away from East Hampton Village and requested to join the Town’s centralized Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP).
Beginning January 1, 2026, the town will also assume full responsibility for answering 911 calls across its service area. This change follows the breakdown of a long-standing agreement with the Village of East Hampton, according to the town.
For decades, the village provided 911 call answering and forwarded police-related calls to the town at no cost. In 2025, the village proposed new contract terms that included a five-year agreement exceeding $1 million annually, followed by a ten-year proposal starting at $800,000 per year with automatic increases. The Town Board declined those offers.
“We said no to proposals that didn’t make sense for our taxpayers,” said East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez. “Public safety has always been handled as a shared responsibility in East Hampton — not a revenue stream. We intend to keep it that way.”
“What was proposed by East Hampton Village earlier this year departed from how this community has historically handled public safety,” Burke-Gonzalez continued. “We did not believe that kind of approach served our residents.”
The PSAP is a centralized, professionally staffed hub that supports dispatch for town police and multiple fire and EMS agencies across the East End. Over the past several years, the town has expanded its team, modernized its infrastructure, and invested in a $12 million emergency communications network that serves as a backbone for coordinated regional response.
As part of the agreements, the Village of Sag Harbor will contract with the town for dispatch services, with rates starting at $134,047 in 2026 and rising modestly through 2030. In addition, the Springs Fire Department will now receive services at no cost, in contrast to their previous agreement with the Village of East Hampton.
“On behalf of the Village of Sag Harbor and its Board of Trustees, I wish to express our appreciation to the Town of East Hampton for entering into this agreement,” said Sag Harbor Village Mayor Thomas Gardella. “This collaboration strengthens our ability to protect the health, safety and welfare of our communities. It stands as an example of how local governments come together to better serve the people we represent.”
“We look forward to expanding the dispatch and call-taking services we provide,” said East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo, “and continuing to partner with our local fire and EMS providers to ensure professional, reliable, and efficient 911 dispatching for the citizens of East Hampton.”
The town estimates its transition to full 911 call handling will save more than $2.5 million over the next decade.
“We are grateful to work with partners like Sag Harbor and the Springs Fire Department who see this for what it is,” Burke-Gonzalez added. “It is a shared effort to keep people safe, and that’s the kind of leadership this moment calls for.”