Bridgehampton school district to submit same budget for June 15 revote
Bridgehampton School is the only school building in the Bridgehampton School District. Credit: James Carbone
Having failed to get its budget approved by voters, the Bridgehampton school district will submit the same budget of $20.6 million — including a 8.93% tax levy increase — when residents again go to the polls June 15, school officials said Thursday.
The Bridgehampton school board voted on Wednesday night to resubmit the same budget to voters when they return to the polls from 2 to 8 p.m. June 15 at the school gym.
The district will again ask voters to pierce the tax cap of 2.93%, which requires approval of 60% of voters.
The budget was defeated May 18 with a vote of 150 in favor to 103 opposed, failing to receive the needed 60% by two votes, said Jennifer Coggin, school business administrator.
"It was so close. More effort was needed to get people to the polls," she said, adding that the district will increases its effort this time.
The Bridgehampton district receives virtually no federal stimulus due to factors that include their relatively low number of poor students.
A driving force for the increase is the significant rise in the number of special education students, from 48 last year to 59, Superintendent Robert Hauser said. He noted the pandemic prompted numerous families with special-needs children to move to the less-congested area on the East End.
The pandemic also forced the Bridgehampton district to take $500,000 from its reserves, nearly two-thirds of that fund, to hire new teachers and move trailers onto the site, he said.
"The costs have drained our reserves," Hauser said. "Being a small district, we don't have that much."
Craig Schneider is a Long Island native and Stony Brook University alumnus. He joined Newsday as a general assignment reporter in January 2018 after 20 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
