The Sag Harbor School Board reviewed a draft $45 million budget for the 2020-21 school year at its February 10 business meeting, although Business Administrator Laurie Baum cautioned that it was just a draft, and that figure would likely decrease after the board workshops on the new spending plan.
“Many of the numbers within the budget are estimates,” she said, adding that contractual negotiations are taking place currently, and the district is waiting on additional information regarding certain expenditures and funding from New York State.
The voter-approved 2019-20 budget was $42,885,375, making the draft budget larger by $2.16 million, at $45,051,817. Increases include a 12.3 percent jump in administration and program support, from $2.46 million to $2.77 million, largely due to cyber security and related costs to the cyber attack the district contended with late last year.
Student programs also are proposed to increase, from $25.16 million to $26.34 million, and employee benefit costs are drafted to rise from $10.13 million to $11.08 million.
The tax levy, or the amount of money the district will need to raise through property taxes, is initially estimated to be $39.87 million.
“We put in our best guess on a lot of the expenditures, because at this point we don’t know what some of those costs are going to be,” Ms. Baum said of the numbers. “This is draft number one. It’s probably at the highest you’ll ever see it from this point on. It’s a work in progress.”
Ms. Baum added that in terms of revenues, the district expects to see a decrease in non-resident tuition with other districts considering schools in addition to the Sag Harbor School District as alternatives. The Sagaponack School Board recently voted to pursue a contract that would allow students in grades four through 12 to select Bridgehampton for later grades. It already has a contract with the East Hampton and Sag Harbor school districts. In addition, she said, Amagansett will be opening its doors to non-resident students.
“Between both of those, Sag Harbor expects to see a decrease in tuition,” Ms. Baum said.
Board member Chris Tice asked if Ms. Baum had a sense of how much money would be left over at the end of the 2019-20 school year. She said she doesn’t believe there will be extra money left over this year to roll over into the next as there has been in past years.
The next budget workshop will be held on Thursday, February 27, at 6:30 p.m. in the Pierson Middle-High School library. Ms. Baum will go over an updated draft budget, including the individual budgets for BOCES, special education, technology, and both primary and secondary instruction.
On Monday, March 16, at 6:30 p.m., Ms. Baum and the BOE will go over the budget and how it relates to athletics, buildings and grounds, security, and transportation. On Monday, March 30, at 6:30 p.m., an updated draft will be discussed.
On Tuesday, April 21, at 6:30 p.m., the BOE will review the final budget and adopt the 2020-21 budget for the May 19 vote, in addition to adopting the property tax report card.
On Monday, May 11, at 6:30 p.m., the BOE will host a budget hearing and business meeting.
The budget and School Board vote will take place on Tuesday, May 19, in the Pierson Middle-High School gymnasium.
Elizabeth Vespe on Feb 12, 2020