The Southampton School Board has proposed a 2.64 percent tax levy increase for 2013-14, well below the 4.11 percent the school district is allowed by New York State's mandated tax cap.
While the mandate is popularly known as a "2 percent cap," there are certain exceptions for growth and uncontrollable costs that permit school districts to go higher. As long as districts adhere to the cap, budgets may be passed by a simple majority — 50 percent of votes plus one vote — but if districts want to pierce the cap they must get 60 percents of voters to approve.
While the tax levy represents all the revenue raised through property taxes, the budget itself is slated to rise 3.99 percent to $61,877,948. The new tax rate is projected to be $2.42 per $1,000 of assessed property value, which amounts to a 2.63 percent rate increase.
According to the district, a homeowner with an assessment of $1 million can expect to pay $62.20 more for the year, and an assessment of $500,000 means a $31.10 increase. Homeowners whose assessments have gone up or down since the prior year will see a different tax impact.
A letter from School Board President Heather McCallion and Superintendent J. Richard Boyes, Ed.D., states that while contractional salarly increases are modest in the next budget, the district faces hikes in medical insurance and pension contributions.
The equivalent of five full-time teaching positions have been trimmed from the budget with no layoffs, and five non-instructional positions have been cut by not filling positions being vacated by retirees and by letting some in clerical positions go, the district's budget brochure states.
A budget hearing is planned May 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Southampton Intermediate School music room.
There is only one candidate on the School Board ballot, incumbent Christina Strassfield, who is seeking her second term.
Among the additional propositions on the ballot are whether the district can spend $350,000 from the Southampton Bus Fleet Replacement Capital Reserve Fund to purchase a bus and three vans and whether the district may spend $1,532,000 from The 2007 Ten Year Capital Reserve Fun” for masonry repairs at Southampton Elementary School and classroom electric upgrades and for raising the boiler stacks at the intermediate school and high school. Because the district will tap into savings for these two propositions, they will have no impact on the tax levy.
The last three propositions, which do have a small impact on the tax levy, are for $398,320 for the district's contract with the Southampton Youth Association,
$326,509 for the district's participation in the Parrish Art Museum and
$98,000 for the Southampton Historical Museum.
The budget vote and School Board election are May 21 between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the intermediate school music room.
