Town Of Smithtown Supervisor Primary: Preview

TOWN OF SMITHTOWN, NY — Town of Smithtown residents are set to head to the polls June 24, where one of the primary races they will decide on is the town's supervisor position.

Republican incumbent Edward Wehrheim is facing a primary challenge in the form of Suffolk County Legislator Robert Trotta. Trotta was sworn in as legislator on Jan. 2, 2014. He has been re-elected every two years and started his sixth and final term in January 2024. Due to term limits, this will be his last year as a county legislator.

Wehrheim has served in office since 2018. He is looking for his third four-year term.

Republican: Elect one

• Edward Wehrheim
• Robert Trotta

Trotta said there are three "major issues" he is challenging Wehrheim.

"One is the over-urbanization of Smithtown and all of Long Island with three or four-story apartment buildings with underground parking," Trotta told Patch. "Sewers were supposed to be about clean water and downtown revitalization. Developers' eyes got wide open when they realized they could pile people on top of each other and make Smithtown and Huntington, Queens."

Wehrheim did not respond to Patch's request for comment.

The Town of Smithtown was awarded $21.3 million in funding from New York state for the downtown Smithtown Sewer District expansion project last fall.

Trotta said Long Islanders do not want to "be Brooklyn and Queens."

"It's creeping out," he said. "Nassau is turning into Queens, and Suffolk is turning into Nassau. People are saying, 'We need this for our children.' The [Long Island] population's the same. There are less kids. This is developers wanting to make a boat load of money, and I am very disappointed in our current political government officials who are piling money."

Suffolk County's estimated population on July 1, 2024, according the United States Census Bureau, was 1,535,909 people. The figure was 1,493,350 on April 1, 2010. Nassau County had an estimated 1,392,438 residents as of July 1, 2024, and 1,339,532 on April 1, 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Trotta said his "second issue" is the Town of Smithtown should institute term limits for its government positions.

His third and final "major issue," he said, is the open-space preservation program in the Town of Smithtown.

"I don't want [the Town of Smithtown] urbanized, and I don't want it turned into Queens," Trotta said. "That's not to say I'm not against some — I would much rather prefer small condos, because we're robbing a generation of building equity by putting these people in apartments. They'll never save money. Let's say a guy makes $100K a year. Decent salary, right? Now he rents an apartment for $3K a month. Now, $100K is really $70K, after taxes, and then you take $36K off of that. You're left with $34K. He's got to pay for his car, a train ticket, maybe, his key, his electric, eating. He has no money to save. It's over."