A yes vote on the townwide referendum would have dissolved the town's police dispatching service, with that function instead being handled by Suffolk County.
"We're relieved; we're extremely happy," Melissa Breitenbach, a dispatcher, said after the vote results were in. "I think the residents did the right thing. They put their public safety first. They knew what was in their best interests and we're just happy to continue serving the town of Riverhead."
"I think it's amazing that everyone supported us as much as they did," said Deborah Buyukdeniz, another dispatcher.
A no vote means that the function will continue to be handled locally, but at a cost, according to the wording of the referendum, of $950,000 this year.
The unofficial vote total was 4,159 no votes and 2,058 yes votes, according to the county Board of Elections.
Only six town dispatchers remain, as several others either retired or found employment elsewhere since the town first proposed cutting the jobs late last year.
The idea of eliminating the dispatchers locally was first pitched by Supervisor Phil Cardinale in his tentative 2009 budget.
He said town taxpayers already pay for dispatching services in their county taxes and shouldn't be paying twice.
Exactly how much Riverhead residents pay the county for dispatching was never definitely disclosed, since about 31 percent of the county's public safety communications budget comes from general fund taxes. The general fund consists of property taxes paid by all county residents, as well as sales tax and other revenue sources.
While Mr. Cardinale initiated the proposal to shift dispatching to the county in his 2009 budget, it was eventually supported by the entire board, with the exception of Republican Councilman Jim Wooten, and the board initially voted to eliminate the dispatchers by July 30.
However, board members changed their mind midyear, and decided instead to put the issue up for a public vote.
In the campaign, all the Republican candidates supported keeping the dispatchers, and even ran and funded advertisements advocating that stance.
The town Civil Service Employees Association, the union representing the dispatchers, endorsed all the Republican Town Board candidates, even though Mr. Cardinale was the only Democratic Town Board candidate to not publicly oppose shifting dispatching to the county.
"It's a great day for the taxpayers of the town," said Riverhead CSEA president Matt Hattorff. "They did the right thing. The taxpayers spoke and hopefully we won't have to go through this again."
"Thank you to all the Riverhead residents that voted to keep us," dispatcher Erin Chester said. "We strive to go above and beyond with what we do every day ... and we're going to continue to do the same."
tgannon@timesreview.com