Letters

The controversial Sag Harbor Board of Education is running a business — let’s take a look.

Sag Harbor Board of Education members have had a busy week, with Superintendent Jeff Nichols doing damage control at the Noyac Civic Council on Tuesday, and then the board completely changing their Marsden narrative on Wednesday evening during a meeting at Pierson.

These meetings aren’t actually informative, as the board fails to own up to anything they want to ultimately do with our nearly $10 million down payment. They say the Marsden vote is “just for the land,” which is quite different from what they have been saying publicly since September 2022 and what they have been working toward since mid-2021.

The board also tells us that the Marsden property can be just about anything under the sun. Taxpayers are being asked to approve nearly $10 million without having any idea of exactly what they are buying?

Perhaps if the board had an excellent track record on similar projects, we would have cause for less scrutiny. But scrutinize we must — and look no further than the Stella Maris acquisition for ample reason.

Stella Maris, also a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity, was approved by voters in 2016 when they voted yes for a $10.2 million bond to pay for the project. From a business standpoint, The East Hampton Star reported that the district was over budget by about 20 percent for the transformation of Stella Maris (that’s $2.1 million over budget). The audit company stated, “When we analyzed the records, we saw that there needs [to be] improvement in controls regarding keeping these records organized in a consistent manner.”

And, sadly, when the board was looking for voter support to acquire Stella Maris, they floated numerous “possibilities” that were never delivered in spite of the cost overruns.

Furthermore, what business spends essentially their entire facilities capital reserve fund on a new project? For example, if a bank spent down its entire reserve fund to acquire new assets, which then have to be taken care of (reserved for), the regulators would have a field day and heads would roll. Taxpayers ultimately pay for the mistakes in the form of “bailouts” (i.e. higher taxes) and increased budgets.

Maybe Marsden will be different. Doubtful, as this board is intent on purchasing the land without doing studies that the Southampton Town Board requested be completed prior to purchasing the land.

The pattern is pretty clear, and as the old saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”

Vote no on Proposition 2 on May 16, Pierson gym.

Grover Pagano

Sag Harbor