Riverhead school board proposal vote set

As if to assure district residents that the Riverhead school board's proposed $78.3-million building renovation and expansion proposal is as thrifty as they could make it, the board put a new slogan on the front page of the budget brochures -- "Only What's Needed. Nothing More."

The referendum, which will go to voters Tuesday, is $40 million less than another districtwide renovation bond that was defeated by a 2-1 margin in February 2010.

And, in another nod toward thrift, the referendum will be in two parts -- the $78,334,247 construction referendum and a separate $6,995,454 bond to build an additional gym at the high school. If the larger referendum fails, the new gym will not be built, even if the vote for it passes.

School officials say major renovations are long overdue, noting that all seven school buildings in the district are at least 40 years old, and the oldest is more than 70 years old. The heating systems are obsolete, the roofs leak, science labs in the high school and middle school are antiquated, and some classes are held in "temporary" portables, some of them 35 years old.

If the larger bond measure passes, every school will be updated. The plans are detailed in the budget brochure and online on the district's website.

District officials expect to get $26 million to $29 million in construction aid from the state, and say that the tax impact of the 20-year bonds will come in phases, with the first increase being seen in 2014.

For a house worth $280,000 -- the average price for homes in the district, which covers most of Riverhead and small parts of Southampton and Brookhaven towns -- the $78.3-million bond would add $40.09 annually to the tax bill in 2014, $96.71 in 2015, and $153.33 in 2016, as the first parts of the reconstruction work are paid for.

Taxes would increase to $213.25 a year from 2017 to 2033, then drop to $172.34 in 2034, $116.13 in 2035, and go down to $59.93 in 2036, the last year of bond payments. If the second bond passes taxes would increase proportionately.

School officials say those numbers are based on estimates of state aid and interest rates, and could change.

Voting is from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Riley Avenue School in Calverton, the Aquebogue School, the Phillips Avenue School in Riverhead and -- for families whose elementary school-age children use the Roanoke Avenue school -- Riverhead High School.

One reason the previous referendum failed is that it called for turning the Roanoke Avenue school into an administration building, and would shift many students into different buildings, some of them twice in three years. That plan is not in the latest proposal.