With last week's adoption of the Sag Harbor School District's 2024-25 budget and associated propositions, and the filing of school board candidate petitions on Monday, the official ballot for the district's May vote is now set in stone.
The budget is a $50.23-million spending plan that carries a year-over-year increase of 4.5 percent, or $2.16 million more than the current year's budget. The associated tax-levy increase is 2.9 percent, which, for Sag Harbor, is under the state-mandated cap on such increases by slightly less than one whole percentage point.
The budget plan "maintains all academic programs, student support services, extracurricular activities, and athletics throughout the district," Jennifer Buscemi, Sag Harbor's business administrator, said during an April 16 board meeting.
The plan also provides meaningful professional-development programs for faculty and staff members and boosts campus security and cybersecurity, she said.
Not long before the board adopted the budget, the district received an 11th-hour announcement from the New York State Legislature that $425,000 in proposed cuts to Sag Harbor's state aid would be restored, if not increased. This means the district won't have to tap into its "unassigned fund balance," a type of reserve account, to the extent it had been planning to do. This will result in "more money to put into a reserve . . . versus having to fill that hole next year," Ms. Buscemi said.
Several budget lines reflect rising overall costs. There is a planned 4.6-percent increase to "personnel services," including teacher and staff salaries to support the various programs and resources for kids; a 10.19-percent increase to employee benefits, much of which is beyond the district's control; a 15.26-percent increase in textbook costs, and an 8.33-percent increase in interest on the short-term loan the district takes out each year to pay for operations until tax money starts flowing in. A more detailed breakdown can be found on the district website.
In addition to the budget, which is called Proposition 1, there will be two additional propositions on the ballot. Proposition 2 asks voters to weigh in on the purchase of four new buses — two full-size and two smaller buses — for $508,252, which would come out of the district's transportation reserve account. These would replace two that are 12 years old and have clocked more than 200,000 miles each, and two that have extensive rusting. Because the money has already been set aside for this purchase, Ms. Buscemi said, the proposition will not increase taxes next year.
Proposition 3 asks voters for permission to tap into the facilities-improvement reserve account for $2.4 million. School officials say it is needed to supplement previously approved money, $2.5 million, for a districtwide upgrade to heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems when it ran into larger-than-anticipated cost increases.
For the school board, Jordana Sobey and Ryan Winter are running unopposed to retain their seats. Ms. Sobey has served two previous terms, and Mr. Winter has served one.
There will be a public hearing on the budget on Monday, May 13, at 6:30 p.m. in the library at Pierson Middle and High School. The vote is scheduled for Tuesday, May 21, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the gymnasium there.
Correction: An earlier version of this article in print and online incorrectly said that there would be propositions on the May 21 ballot for the Sag Harbor Whaling Museum and the Eastville Community Historical Society. Those propositions will be considered in September as part of the John Jermain Memorial Library vote and not in May.