East Quogue School Board Intends To Try To Pierce Cap Again With Budget Proposal

The East Quogue Board of Education announced Tuesday night that it will try, for the second time in as many years, to pierce the state’s tax levy cap with its 2014-15 budget proposal, though school administrators left out key details during their public presentation—including the potential tax impact of their plan.

While making their pitch to a largely pro-education group of community members gathered inside the Central Avenue school on Tuesday, board members did not specify how much the proposed budget would total, though they did say spending could climb by about 2.9 percent next year. Based on this year’s $22.4 million budget approved by taxpayers last June, a 2.9-percent increase would equate to almost $650,000 in new spending, bringing the total budget to more than $23 million—a figure that Principal Robert Long confirmed on Wednesday morning.

Though the figure is subject to change, Mr. Long estimated that the spending plan would increase the district’s tax rate by 35 cents, from $11.35 to $11.70 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. In that scenario, a homeowner whose property is assessed at $500,000 would pay about $5,850 in school taxes next year, or $175 more than the current year, a 3.1-percent increase.

Mr. Long said he did not yet know what the total tax levy would be, though it will exceed the 1.46-percent tax cap set by the state by about 2 percent.

A $23 million budget would exceed the tax cap by $420,000, requiring that at least 60 percent of those casting ballots approve the 2014-15 spending plan, and not just a simple majority. If taxpayers reject the plan on May 20, board members would have to hold a second vote and, if the plan is rejected a second time, most likely be forced to make draconian cuts to the budget that could result in layoffs and the termination of programming.

“This is basically a one-shot deal,” Board of Education President Mario Cardaci told attendees on Tuesday. “Talk to everybody, do what you have to do. This budget has to pass on the first try—there’s no second chance.”

School Superintendent Les Black said during Tuesday’s hearing that under the tax-piercing budget, the average East Quogue household with an assessed value of $500,000 would pay approximately $130 more than they would if the board stayed under the cap. Mr. Black did not specify how much the average taxpayer would pay in total under each scenario.

Mr. Black left the school shortly after Tuesday’s meeting and could not be reached for comment later that evening or on Wednesday morning.

Mr. Cardaci, meanwhile, said he did not know the total budget figure offhand, and Elizabeth Lev, the district’s business administrator, declined to delve into the details of the spending plan and the tax levy following the meeting.

“I can’t give you the number—it’s not finalized yet,” Ms. Lev repeated while walking away from the school’s cafetorium. She added that the information would not be available to the public until the budget is formally adopted by the Board of Education on Wednesday, April 23.

On Wednesday morning, Mr. Long said the budget is not finalized yet because the district is working with state legislators and still hopes to secure additional state funding.

According to a presentation given by Mr. Black, almost 55.3 percent of the budget is made up of “uncontrolled costs,” which covers health insurance costs, retirement fund contributions, fuel costs, contractual obligations and tuition to the Westhampton Beach School District.

The district attempted to pierce the tax cap last year by proposing a 2.9-percent tax levy increase, but fell just seven votes shy of the necessary 60 percent. The current year’s budget, which did not pierce the cap because board members trimmed hundreds of thousands of dollars from their spending plan after its initial rejection, passed on the second try.

“We’ve always said there are X number of no votes that will come out no matter what you do,” Mr. Black said. “In order to get a 60-percent majority, you have to get an awful lot of yes votes coming out to counteract the nos.

“What that means is talking to your friends, relatives, neighbors,” he continued, “getting them here to vote, calling them the day before [and] reminding them. It’s incumbent on everyone in the community, if they want a budget passed, to work at it.”

The board has presented a dozen line items totaling $795,000 of potential additional cuts that could be made to trim the excess $420,000 difference in the tax levy, including eliminating the late buses to the Westhampton Beach middle and high schools, which would save $45,000, $15,000 in extracurricular funding and several teachers positions.

With more than 40 people in attendance, the crowd gathered Tuesday was strongly in favor of piercing the cap in order to save programs and staff at the school that already underwent a round of cuts last year. Those cuts included two special education teachers, five teaching assistants, five teacher aides and a foreign language teacher, among others.

East Quogue resident Joe Amato said the district has done as much as it can despite having a small tax base and a small budget, but it has been unfairly burdened by expenses, such as an increase in the amount of tuition paid to Westhampton Beach because of more middle- and high school-age children moving into East Quogue.

“If you’re a 300-pound man and you have to lose five pounds, that’s not a big deal,” Mr. Amato said. “But if you’re 110-pound man and you have to lose 10 pounds, now you’re down to the bone—and that’s the analogy we’re looking at here.”

Penni Russo, chair of the East Quogue Teacher Association budget committee, said if the community votes to pierce the cap this year it will make it easier to increase the budget in the future without exceeding the limit because the starting base for the 2015-16 budget would be larger.

“If the cap is pierced and we pass it beyond those seven votes we needed last year, that becomes our new starting point for the following budget, which puts us in a better starting position,” Ms. Russo said.