Suffolk unveils $897 million plan for medical examiner, sewer upgrades
A new medical examiner building and sewer work lead Suffolk’s latest capital push, as reviewers put the three-year plan at $3.08 billion.
Ed Romaine put a new medical examiner building and long-delayed sewer work at the center of Suffolk County’s latest capital push, a $897 million plan aimed at projects residents can see in Hauppauge, Deer Park, Nesconset and Ronkonkoma. The package is built around infrastructure the county has postponed for years, with the clearest early payoff likely to come from sewer construction and a replacement for the county’s forensic workspace.
The broader 2026-2028 capital program totals $3.08 billion over three years, a 33% increase, or $767 million more, than the adopted 2025-2027 program. Within that increase, $185 million is set aside for a new Medical Examiner Building, $68 million for sewers and $33.5 million for other new capital projects. The program also includes added money for the Long Island Hub at Ronkonkoma, the Foley skilled nursing facility, a juvenile detention center, the Deer Park sewer area, the Southwest Sewer District, the Heartland Recharge Project and sewers in Nesconset.
Sewer work loomed large because Suffolk’s Division of Sanitation already oversees 27 county-owned sewer districts, more than 1,250 miles of sanitary sewer and force main piping, 103 sewage pumping stations and 25 wastewater treatment plants. The plan includes a $184.7 million increase for the Deer Park sewer area, $149.5 million for the Southwest Sewer District, $94 million for the Heartland Recharge Project and $50.8 million for Nesconset.
Suffolk’s Office of the Medical Examiner still operates from an 85,000-square-foot facility in Hauppauge’s North County Complex off Veterans Memorial Highway, and in his 2024 State of the County address Romaine said he would seek alternatives and possible renovations for that building, Police Headquarters, the H. Lee Dennison Building and other county properties. His earlier capital pitch was far smaller, with a proposed 2025 budget of $488,760,526 submitted on April 15, 2024 and a signed total of $535,014,841 after amendments. Romaine became county executive in November 2023 after 12 years as Brookhaven Town Supervisor.
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