'No' budget vote could cost taxpayers more

Voters who reject proposed school budgets in some Long Island districts could end up with an even higher contingency budget -- and pay more in taxes as a result, a Newsday survey found.

Of the districts that gave out contingency budget and tax levy information, nine said the contingency tax levies -- the amount of the budgets that taxpayers must fund -- would be more than the tax levies in the proposed budgets. Not all of the 124 districts gave contingency information.