Southampton Voters Approve Budget, Propositions

Southampton School District voters approved a Tuesday by a 621-363 vote and signed off on all six other ballot propositions.

The new budget means a 4.3 percent rise in the tax levy and 2.12 percent spending increase. The new tax rate will be $2.26 for every $1,000 of assessed property value, amounting to a $20 tax increase on a home valued at $500,000 and $40 for a home valued at $1 million.

About half of the budget increase can be attributed to a step-up in the size of the district’s annual payment on its debt for a $53.4 million bond that voters approved in 2007 for improvements and additions to district buildings and facilities. The size of the payment is increasing by $600,000, to $4.0 million. This will be the last year the size of the debt service payment will grow, according to Superintendent J. Richard Boyes, Ed.D.

The remainder of the budget increase mostly falls under the category of employee benefits and other obligations, such as a technology lease purchase program and interest payments.

The district will return $580,000 to taxpayers from its fund balance and an additional $400,000 from its employee benefit reserve to reduce the tax levy, which will be $47.8 million under the 2011-12 budget, and the balance of income would come mostly from tuition for Tuckahoe and Native American students and from state aid.

Voters additionally approved propositions for building repairs and improvements, upgrades at the , purchasing new school buses, and funding for the , and .