First Public Vote On Southampton-Tuckahoe Merger Is Scheduled For Next Week

Less than a week before the first public vote on a proposed merger between the Southampton and Tuckahoe school districts, officials are still reaching out to taxpayers to provide information to help voters decide their positions.With the first of two potential votes scheduled for Tuesday, October 29, the window to spread information about the proposed annexation—on which many civic groups are choosing sides—is narrow, with both districts having received approval for the measure from State Education Commissioner John B. King last month.The merger, which is technically an annexation of the Tuckahoe district by the Southampton district, is going to the voters after the school boards of both districts approved the public vote. Separate polling will be held in the two districts next week; if the public vote fails in either, the merger proposal would fail. Soon afterward, the Tuckahoe School District will face limited school reserves—and possible bankruptcy—while the Southampton district could lose all of the tuition paid by Tuckahoe high school-age students, which amounts to roughly $3 million in annual revenue.“Tuckahoe is an essential part of the high school band, baseball team, soccer team, football team, track team, math team, student government, clubs, etc.,” the Tuckahoe School District wrote in a newsletter to residents about the proposal. “The permanent loss of our students would deprive [Southampton] of the depth they bring to the classroom and beyond.”If voters in both districts approve the measure next Tuesday, a second vote formalizing the approval would be held in December, combining the two districts for a single balloting.The merger would result in a new district with a single tax rate that would represent an increase of 8.7 percent, or more, for Southampton taxpayers, according to estimates. The new rate would cut tax bills for Tuckahoe property owners by about two-thirds.Without the merger, both districts could face serious financial repercussions.If the merger fails, Tuckahoe officials have said, the district would be forced to reduce the roughly $3 million it pays in high school tuition to Southampton in any way possible. One option would be to negotiate significantly lower tuition rates with Southampton. Another would be for Tuckahoe to sign a tuition contract with a different school district, to hold the district ninth-graders at the middle school to save money, or to create its own high school program. As it stands, it is unclear where Tuckahoe’s current eighth-graders will attend high school next year.If the Tuckahoe district is forced to declare bankruptcy, New York State will step in—but district officials and state representatives said they did not know what the state could, or might, do to remedy the situation.Meanwhile, without the benefit of the Tuckahoe students, the Southampton School District would also face financial problems. According to Southampton School Superintendent Dr. Scott Farina, Tuckahoe students make up more than a quarter of the high school population, and if Southampton loses those tuition revenues, it would be forced to make cuts, including to Advanced Placement and college level courses, sports teams, clubs, and music programs.If the merger is approved, the state would combine the two districts’ staff lists to determine seniority levels, with staff members given credit for the amount of time served in their district.According to a merger feasibility report conducted by the SES Study team, tax projections assume that the 2014-15 budget for the new, merged school district will increase by 2.5 percent, to $71,470,013, above what this year’s budget would have been if there were a combined school district. The report projects a tax levy of $60,471,648 for the overall new, merged district. The figures are based on teaching and administrative needs for all four of the merged district’s schools.In total, staff expenditures for the first year of the new district are expected to be approximately $6,104,634.Additionally, if the merger is approved, the estimated 40 Tuckahoe students now attending Westhampton Beach High School will not be allowed to finish their education in that district. They would have to attend Southampton High School—a move that is expected to save the new combined district approximately $1 million in tuition payments.Prepared by the SES Study Team from Canastota, New York, the report does paint a positive picture for the new combined districts’ spending, noting an estimated $3.3 million in merger incentive money from the state over the first 14 years, $1.8 million of which will come in the first five years, although the merger would also have related costs.Based on several assumptions—including stability in property values and tax rates—the report estimates that Southampton tax rates would increase by roughly 21 cents, or 8.7 percent, from $2.42 to $2.63 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. According to state guidelines, the consolidated district must have the same tax rate for all district taxpayers residing in the same town—although state legislation is being considered that could change that, or roll the tax increases out gradually if the merger is approved.If the merger is approved, a Southampton homeowner with a home assessed at $500,000 could expect to pay approximately $1,315 in school taxes for the 2014-15 school year, an increase of $105 over the current year’s projected tax levy of $1,210.In Tuckahoe, residents would save money, with the tax rate dropping from $7.50 to the $2.63 per $1,000 of assessed valuation levied in the new merged district.For a home assessed at $500,000 in Tuckahoe, a taxpayer could also expect to pay $1,315 in school taxes—a decrease of $2,435 from this year’s projected tax bill of $3,750.The first public vote is scheduled for Tuesday, October 29. Taxpayers in each district will cast ballots at the Tuckahoe School and at the Southampton Intermediate School between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. If either district fails to pass the merger, the districts will have to wait at least one year before considering another annexation.If the vote passes in both districts, there will be a second vote, scheduled for December 5 and run by the Suffolk County Board of Elections, to determine the ultimate fate of the merger.