Three Plan to Stay Under Tax Cap

Sag Harbor school administrators are in the midst of zeroing out every line in next year’s budget and rebuilding it from the ground up, a time-consuming process. Officials believe it will allow the district to absorb expected increases in employees’ salaries and benefits, among other costs, while staying under the cap in the amount it can raise by taxes. Sag Harbor has joined East Hampton and Wainscott in intending to stay at or under the cap.

During Sag Harbor’s Feb. 29 budget work session, spending for the elementary, middle, and high schools were laid out. They remain largely flat. However, based on a line-by-line breakdown, the district is expecting an increase of at least $399,000 in salaries for teachers and teaching assistants, which could change depending on the result of negotiations for contracts with teaching assistants, administrators, and custodians, which expire on June 30.

Jennifer Buscemi, Sag Harbor’s business administrator, said when it came to the ordering of supplies and equipment “everyone really is trying to save as much money as possible.”

“The message was from the beginning of the process we knew that the growth factor was going to be very low,” Ms. Buscemi said. “This is zero-based budgeting. This is the only way we’re going to survive going forward.”

Sag Harbor’s limit on tax levy increases is about 3.03 percent, which is higher than the .12 percent base tax cap established by the state because of such factors as increased property values and new construction within the district. However, school officials informally agreed to try to build a budget that instead stays at a 2.98-percent increase. The district has not released a full draft of its 2016-17 proposed budget yet; Ms. Buscemi said she was still developing it. Katy Graves, the superintendent, said the district is aiming for small cuts that will add up to big savings.

“Philosophically, a lot of schools go for big reductions in force or laying off employees,” Ms. Graves said. “Really the better savings happen with small captures. . . . By the end of the year it really adds up, and you’re saving great programs and you’re saving great employees that are taking care of our kids.”

Wainscott Budget to Decrease

As most of its larger neighbors struggle with budget increases, the Wainscott School District is projecting a small decrease in spending next year. The proposed budget, just under $3.04 million, which was presented at the district’s March 1 work session, would cut spending for the fifth consecutive year and lower the tax levy for the fourth.

Spending would be $27,444 lower than in the current year, or just under 1 percent lower, which corresponds to a tax levy decrease of 1.16 percent.

Notably, the proposed budget adds a full-time teaching assistant because the number of students at the kindergarten-through-third-grade school is expected to rise from 21 to 29. It is intended to be a bilingual position because the number of children for whom English is not a native language will also grow. The cost of the new salary would be offset by a decrease in the number of students Wainscott sends to East Hampton schools next year, meaning a lower tuition budget.

School officials anticipate spending $7,000 less on legal services. Busing, including transportation to other schools, is expected to cost $21,000 less. Spending on employee benefits is likely to drop by more than $9,500. The district will spend about $5,500 more on computers for students’ use.

“We’re kind of unique. Because of our size, we can make changes and reduce things, but increase the things we need to increase and still end up with a smaller budget,” David Eagan, Wainscott’s school board president, said Monday.

East Hampton Faces Tax Cap

During the East Hampton School District’s March 8 budget workshop, school officials said the current plan is to stay at or below the tax cap, which, for East Hampton, is just below .67 percent. That would amount to an increase of $329,387 in next year’s tax levy.

Mostly level spending plans submitted by Beth Doyle, the principal of the John M. Marshall Elementary School, and Charles Soriano, the principal of the East Hampton Middle School, were well received by the school board. Ms. Doyle asked for additional funding for music and science, which would be offset by a nearly $10,000 drop in spending on copy machines. Mr. Soriano asked for significant increases in math and science.

On Tuesday, the school board also heard presentations from the Country School and the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center, which are vying to be East Hampton’s prekindergarten provider next year. East Hampton went to a full-day program for the first time this year, but opened the bidding process to invite more competition. The financial details of each school’s bid remain confidential until the board votes on them, a decision that is expected in the next several weeks.

Richard Burns, East Hampton’s superintendent, said the district had not budgeted for a significant increase for prekindergarten next year; this year’s prekindergarten budget is $440,475.