Schools prepare for budget votes

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School budget season is in full swing, and most of the districts in the western half of Southampton Town and neighboring areas have either adopted their budgets for the 2009-2010 school year or are about to do so.

On May 19, less than a month from now, it will be up to taxpayers to vote on the spending plans. Now is also the time for candidates for the area’s school boards to begin campaigning.

Westhampton Beach

Incumbent Westhampton Beach School Board Vice President Jim Hulme is running unopposed this year for another five-year term on the district’s board of education. Mr. Hulme has been on the seven-member School Board for 15 years, having served as president of the board for five of them.

His seat is the only vacant one this election season.

Mr. Hulme is an attorney with offices on Mill Road in Westhampton Beach.

Voters in the Westhampton Beach School District will also have an opportunity to vote on the district’s proposed $47.7 million budget on May 19. The budget represents a 2.48-percent increase in spending over this year’s budget, which totals in at $46.5 million.

The 2009-2010 school budget will increase taxes in the district by about 7.67 percent, from $4.78 per $1,000 of assessed valuation this year to $5.15 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, district officials said.

Voting in the Westhampton Beach School District will take place between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the high school’s large group instruction room.

Riverhead

The seats held by Angela DeVito of Jamesport and Tim Griffing of Riverhead are up for grabs on the seven-member Riverhead Board of Education.

Ms. DeVito, the director of workforce development for the Building and Construction Trades Council of Nassau and Suffolk County, and Mr. Griffing, who owns Riverhead Landscaping Services and is a real estate broker, are both running for reelection. Ms. DeVito has served on the board for three years, while Mr. Griffing has served on the board for six years. The terms for the board last for three years.

The two incumbents, however, are being challenged by Amelia Lantz of Riverhead and Marlando Williams of Wading River.

Riverhead School District, although it had to excise 28 staff positions due to the rough economy, is expecting only a 3.35-percent increase in spending between this year’s budget and next year’s budget.

Next year’s Riverhead School District budget brings with it a 3.98-percent increase in the tax levy, from $77,550,531 this year to $80,644,797 next year. The tax levy represents the total amount of money the school district needs to raise through taxes.

Superintendent Diane Scricca did not have figures on the tax rate change for the next school year because Riverhead district encompasses three towns, Brookhaven, Southampton and Riverhead.

Ms. Scricca said that next year’s budget is the most fiscally responsible she and the school board could devise in light of the current economic crisis.

Riverhead district taxpayers will be able to vote on their school budget and School Board candidates on May 19 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Riverhead High School gym.

Remsenburg/Speonk

In Remsenburg/Speonk, three newcomers will be vying for the seats currently held by School Board President Jeremiah Collins and Vice President Aimee White, neither of whom is seeking reelection.

Cecilia Frey, Kevin Federico and Christian Killoran, all of Remsenburg, are running for the two three-year terms on the five-member board.

Taxpayers will also vote whether or not to approve the $11.3 million budget on May 19, a spending plan that carries a 2.3-percent increase in overall spending. The tax levy, which district officials said on Monday totals $10.5 million, will raise taxes 3.5 percent. This year district residents paid $4.44 per 1,000 of assessed value, while next year that number will rise by eight cents to $4.52 per $1,000.

District officials explained that they tried to keep spending flat and that most of the increase in spending is by way of salaries and fuel oil contracts.

“We’re basically maintaining programs,” said Superintendent Katharine Salomone.

Residents can cast their votes at the Remsenburg/Speonk School between 3 and 9 p.m. on Mill Road in Remsenburg.

Quogue

Two positions on the Quogue School Board, one held by board President Walter Stockton and the other by Edward T. Otis, III, are up for grabs this year, but both men are running unopposed.

The terms are for three years.

Mr. Stockton has been on the five-member board for 12 years and Mr. Otis has been on the board for 15 years. Mr. Stockton is the president of Independent Group Home Living, based in Manorville. Mr. Otis owns Otis Ford in Quogue.

Quogue School also recently adopted its $7.3 million school budget for the 2009-2010 school year, a number which represents a 3.33-percent jump in spending as total expenditures will increase by about $300,000.