After a few years of inflationary pressures that had some school districts here piercing the state-mandated cap on tax levy increases, this year the easternmost districts on the South Fork are all proposing budgets for the 2025-26 school year that stay at or below the cap and will require only a simple majority to pass when voters go to the polls on Tuesday.
For the most part, districts from Sag Harbor to Montauk do this without major cuts to educational programming, and East Hampton is even setting aside money for a new medical assistant program it hopes to establish for career-track students.
The biggest ask comes in Montauk, where voters will weigh in on a $38.411 million bond proposition that would allow for a new gymnasium, expanded library, and various other improvements that school officials say are long overdue.
In East Hampton, the ballot includes a proposition to allow the district to use money from its capital reserve fund for a new playground at the John M. Marshall Elementary School and a new science research lab at the high school, at no impact to taxpayers.
Propositions on the ballots in Montauk, Amagansett, Springs, and Sagaponack ask voters to approve five-year tuition contracts with East Hampton. For Montauk, Amagansett, and Springs, which have agreed to exclusively send their older students (Amagansett, seventh grade and up; Montauk and Springs, ninth and up) to East Hampton schools, tuition will begin at $27,000 for the 2025-26 school year and increase to $29,054 by the 2029-30 school year. Sagaponack and Wainscott allow families a choice among East Hampton, Bridgehampton, and Sag Harbor for students in fourth grade and above, and do not get as favorable a rate on tuition to East Hampton because of that. Sagaponack’s ballot will include a proposition on its agreement with East Hampton that would see tuition begin at $34,650 for fourth through sixth grades and $28,350 for seventh grade and up, and increase from there.
Voters will also choose school board members on Tuesday, but of the districts covered below, only Amagansett, Springs, and Montauk have contested races. A story on those appears elsewhere in today’s paper.
AMAGANSETT
Proposed budget: $14.048 million
Spending increase: $608,138 (4.53 percent)
Tax-levy increase: 4.01 percent (at tax cap)
Details: In a message to the community, Michael Rodgers, the superintendent, wrote that the 2025-26 budget “meets the board’s goal to maintain programs and support services for pre-K through sixth graders” at the school. These, he wrote, include early childhood education and extended school day and school year programs “which have been emphasized and valued at both the state and federal levels. Art, music, foreign language, STEM, physical education, and social emotional learning programs complement our strong academics.” Major increases in the budget, Mr. Rodgers said, are due primarily to salary changes, contractual obligations, the addition of bond indebtedness, and health insurance premiums. Salaries, which account for 40.75 percent of the budget, will increase by 7.29 percent, from just under $5.4 million this year to $5.75 million next year. Benefits will increase by 7.26 percent, from just under $2.9 million to just over $3.1 million. The district will tap into its reserves to help offset the tax levy, including using $197,000 from the employees’ retirement contribution reserve and $75,000 from the teachers’ retirement contribution reserve. If approved, school taxes on a house with a $6,000 assessed value (equating to a market value of roughly $1.5 to $2.5 million, according to Tom Mager, the district treasurer) would rise by about $87 for the year.
Additional proposition: Authorize a five-year tuition agreement for seventh through 12th-grade students to attend the East Hampton School District.
Additional proposition: Authorize the district to appropriate up to $162,887 from the 2015 renovations and upgrades capital reserve fund to purchase a new school bus.
Additional proposition: Authorize creation of a new capital reserve fund for purchases concerning energy, technology, renovations, equipment, and upgrades.
Library budget proposition: $1.52 million (does not impact school taxes)
Board candidates (two open seats): Wayne Gauger (incumbent, Joseph Karpinski, Kristen Peterson (incumbent)
Voting hours: 2 to 8 p.m. in the school gym
EAST HAMPTON
Proposed budget: $88.14 million
Spending increase: $5,254,855 (6.34 percent)
Tax-levy increase: 5.34 percent (below tax cap)
Details: “Our district goals have remained the same and consistent,” Adam Fine, the superintendent, said at the district’s budget hearing on May 6. “Our focus has been on student learning and social and emotional growth.” According to Mr. Fine the budget maintains all the existing programs throughout the three schools in the district and includes money for a hoped-for new medical assistant program for career-bound students. The budget also includes a $1.6 million transfer from the capital reserve fund to replace the boilers at the John M. Marshall Elementary School. Taxes on a house with an assessed value of $6,000 are expected to increase by $16.87 a month.
Additional proposition: To use just over $3.28 million from the capital reserve fund for a new playground at John Marshall and a new science research lab at the high school. There is no impact to the taxpayer for this proposition.
Additional proposition: Establish a new repair reserve fund allowing the district to save up to $7.5 million over time for major repairs.
Additional proposition: Establish a new capital reserve fund to save up to $10 million over time that can be used for future capital projects.
Board candidates (three open seats): James (J.P.) Foster (incumbent), Sandra Vorpahl (incumbent), and Belinda Bellas
Voting hours: 1 to 8 p.m. in the district office meeting room at the high school
MONTAUK
Proposed budget: $24.564 million
Spending increase: $339,998 (1.45 percent)
Tax-levy increase: 9.8 percent (below tax cap)
Details: The taxpayers of Montauk saw a strange occurrence last year when money was actually returned to them due to a budget surplus the year before. That one-time repayment resulted in a budget decrease of 5.93 percent. That is not the case this year, however, and in preparation for school budget season Joshua Odom, principal and superintendent, and the district prepared a three-year analysis of budget increases to show how school taxes have increased on a budget-to-budget basis. “What you’re looking at, per $1,000 of assessed value, is an $11.47-per-year tax increase,” Mr. Odom said at the school’s budget hearing on May 6. For the average house assessed at $5,500, according to the information on the school’s website, over three years the increase in school taxes has been $63.09.
Additional proposition: Authorize a new, five-year high school tuition agreement with the East Hampton School District.
Additional proposition: Approval for a bond not to exceed $38.411 million for an addition, alterations, and improvements to the Montauk School, including a new gymnasium and expanded community access, a library expansion and new main office location, and A.D.A. compliance and safety enhancements. Impact to the average taxpayer is estimated to be $37 per month based on a house assessed at $5,500.
Additional proposition: Authorize use of nearly $2.927 million from capital savings to upgrade the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning in the school and to demolish existing structures and construct a new one-story modular residence at 26 South Dewitt Place, known as the Fisher House. This project will have no impact on taxpayers.
Board candidates (one open seats): Leigh-Ann Hess and Tara Coleman (write-in)
Voting hours: 2 to 8 p.m. in the school gym
SAG HARBOR
Proposed budget: $52.36 million
Spending increase: $2.13 million (4.25 percent)
Tax-levy increase: 2.90 (below tax cap)
Details: Sag Harbor is coming in below the tax levy cap for the 14th straight year. Personnel services make up the largest part of next year’s budget, at nearly $27.95 million, followed by employee benefits, which account for just over $12.28 million. “Basically everything is maintained, all academic programs are maintained,” said Jennifer Buscemi, the school business administrator, at the district’s budget hearing Monday, “and we’re even enhancing a lot of services in different areas.” The district estimates that residents of East Hampton Town will pay an additional $112 per year, while residents of the Town of Southampton will pay an additional $85 per year. Ms. Buscemi estimates, however, that the actual increase may be lower “because assessed values are still increasing and we’re still seeing an increase in our tax base.”
Additional proposition: Use $975,000 from the capital reserve fund for H.V.A.C. unit repair. This has no impact on taxpayers.
Board candidates (two open seats): Grainne Coen (incumbent) and Ronald Reed (incumbent)
Voting hours: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the high school gym
SAGAPONACK
Proposed budget: $2.085 million
Spending increase: $47,090 (2.3 percent)
Tax-levy increase: 2.5 percent (below tax cap)
Details: Over half of the proposed Sagaponack School budget is devoted to its programs. This includes all money related to teaching — $364,004 for salaries for full-time and part-time teachers, assistants and aides, and substitutes. The teaching section of the budget is decreasing by $75,699 from last year. Also included in the program section of the budget is $20,500 for computer-assisted instruction, $188,798 for transportation, and $290,753 for employee benefits.
Additional proposition: Approval of a new, five-year tuition agreement with the East Hampton School District. Tuition will begin at $34,650 for 2025-26 and increase to $37,286 by the 2029-30 school year for students in grades four through six, and for those in grades seven through 12, it will be $28,350 for 2025-26 and increase to $30,507 by the 2029-30 school year.
Board candidates (one open seats): Elizabeth Barton
Voting hours: 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Sagaponack School
SPRINGS
Proposed budget: $38.411 million
Spending increase: $597,477 (4.6 percent)
Tax-levy increase: 3.47 percent (below tax cap)
Details: For the first time in two years the budget for the Springs School is coming in under the property tax cap. This was a priority for Sam Schneider, the school’s business administrator, as the Springs community had turned out to support the district in both previous years and he wanted to honor its commitment not to ask them to again pierce the cap. Part of what allowed the district to stay below the cap this year was certain decreases within the budget. The school’s general education budget is decreasing by 4.72 percent, from just over $17.4 million to just over $16.58 million. There is also a 1.47-percent decrease in special education and other instruction from just over $7 million down to just over $6.9 million.
Additional proposition: Approval of a new, five-year high school tuition agreement with the East Hampton School District.
Additional proposition: Approve the reauthorization of the repair reserve fund, funded by excess balances and money in the current repair reserve fund, allowing the district to save up to $7.5 million over time for major repairs. There is no impact to the taxpayer.
Board candidates (two open seats): Erik Fredrickson (incumbent), Emma Field (incumbent), and Gerard Picco
Voting hours: Noon to 9 p.m. in the school library
WAINSCOTT
Proposed budget: $4.99 million
Spending increase: $116,754 (2.4 percent)
Tax-levy increase: 2.59 percent (below tax cap)
Details: After a period of turmoil that included voters twice rejecting its 2023-24 budget, Wainscott is “trending in the right way,” its board president, David Eagan, told the hamlet’s citizens advisory committee on May 3, explaining that the proposed budget allows the district to fund existing programs and build back reserves as it returns to an open-classroom format for the 16 prekindergarten through third-grade students it expects to educate in the district next year. After keeping fourth graders in house for two years, next year the district will again send them to Bridgehampton, Sag Harbor, or East Hampton schools. Because of the reduction in students and return to the open-classroom format, the district will eliminate one teaching position. It plans to hone the educational programs to be more individualized for each student. Additionally the school is expanding its partnership with the Bridgehampton Childcare and Recreation Center’s after-school program to include next year’s 4-year-old pre-K students. The Wainscott budget would increase school taxes by about $12 per $1,000 of assessed value.
Board candidates (one open seats): William Babinski (incumbent)
Voting hours: 2 to 8 p.m. at the new schoolhouse
With Reporting by Christopher Walsh