The Wainscott and Sagaponack school budgets are two of the tiniest spending plans across Long Island’s 124 school districts, with proposals of $3.7 million and $1.7 million, respectively, for the school year to come.
Wainscott is seeking voter approval, for the second year in a row, to override the state limit on tax levy increases. Its year-to-year spending increase is $379,680, which corresponds to an increase of 12.71 percent, meaning that the district will need a supermajority of voter approval (60 percent or more) for the budget to be adopted.
Between 2012, the year the tax cap was implemented, and 2019, when it successfully overrode it, Wainscott was actually able to cut spending and lower its tax levy several times. However, the district took a hit in 2018 and 2019 when the New York State Comptroller cited it for keeping more money in a surplus account than legally permissible, forcing school officials to “spend down” the extra money over a few years.
For Wainscott homeowners, school taxes would go from $9.15 to $10.24 per $1,000 of assessed value, still the lowest tax rate of any district in East Hampton Town.
Saying that it “fully recognizes the magnitude of the proposed increase,” the Wainscott School District wrote in its budget statement that “the board believes that the proposed tax levy increase for 2020-21 will be the last necessary tax cap-piercing, absent any additional dramatic increases in our district’s student population.”
Wainscott is facing increases to transportation, special education, teachers’ salaries, and employee benefits, according to a line-item breakdown released after a request from The Star. “Our planning for next year includes the very real possibility that our schoolhouse will not be fully operational,” the board wrote. “The district asks for and needs your continued support as it adapts to the new reality that we, our students, and our students’ families are facing.”
David Eagan, an attorney who is president of the school board, is running unopposed for re-election. He has been on the board since 2004.
Polling this year is by absentee ballot. Ballots will be mailed to all registered voters with a postage-paid return envelope. Statewide, they are due by 5 p.m. on June 9. Wainscott plans to hold a remote public hearing on the budget on June 2 at 6 p.m., with a link available for live-streaming at wainscottschool.org.
In both Wainscott and Sagaponack, additional ballot propositions will ask for voter approval to send children in the fourth grade and up to nearby schools to complete their educations. East Hampton and Sag Harbor are options. Also, Sagaponack, for the coming school year, is offering its students the chance to attend the Bridgehampton School.
Sagaponack’s $1.7 million budget would carry a 3.4 percent tax levy increase, which falls within state limitations. The district anticipates no change in its tax rate, which will be finalized in the fall. There will be an online budget hearing on June 2 at 7 p.m., with a link to be found on the school’s website at sagaponackschool.com.
The Sagaponack budget reflects increases for the maintenance of the building, special education services, and rising tuition to the ongoing schools. It includes less money for school busing and health services for private school students.
On the Sagaponack School Board, Thomas Schultz is running unopposed for one available seat. The proprietor of Third Way Construction, he has lived in the district for about four years, and has a son in the third grade at the little red schoolhouse.
“My philosophy on education is to give the young, creative child the best possible way to stay that way,” he said. “I feel [Sagaponack] has done such a great job in this traditional environment.”