Bridgehampton Gets Supermajority to Pass Budget

Voters turned out in higher-than-usual numbers on Tuesday in Bridgehampton to approve the school district's $13.78 million budget by 161 to 78, or 67.4 percent, making it one of two schools on the South Fork to pierce the tax levy cap.

Bridgehampton needed a supermajority of at least 60 percent voter approval because its proposed tax levy increase, 8.7 percent, was above the district's state-imposed limit of 3.04 percent.

The result, school officials say, means the preservation of current programs, staffing, and services at the Bridgehampton School. Those include the after-school Aspire program, field trips, career and technical education programs, driver's education, and more, which had been identified as potential cuts while the 2016-17 budget was being developed, but were considered too critical to spare. This budget marks the second time in a three-year span the district successfully pierced the tax cap; it won approval for an over-the-cap 2014-15 budget in a revote in June 2014.

• RELATED: Amagansett Voters Say 'Yes' to Tax-Cap-Busting Budget

Thanking the community, Lois Favre, Bridgehampton's superintendent, said, "We're looking forward to doing good things here."

Running unopposed for two seats on the Bridgehampton School Board, Jennifer Vinski and Michael Gomberg received 215 and 189 votes, respectively.

The 239 total ballots cast for the budget on Tuesday represented a 54 percent increase over last year's turnout of 155 voters. Bridgehampton has 1,203 registered voters in the district.

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