Riverhead school district administration proposes $170.6 million budget for next year, with a 1% tax levy increase

Riverhead school district’s operating budget will increase to $170.6 million for the 2022-2023 school year, an increase of $11.1 million (7%) over the current year’s adopted budget, if the plan proposed by the administration is adopted by the board of education and approved by district voters.

The spending plan requires a 1% tax levy increase next year, well below the 2.27% tax levy limit established by the state. The district is projected to receive a nearly $8.5 million increase (18.1%) in state aid in the coming school year, under Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget proposal. The final state aid numbers won’t be known until the state budget is adopted by the state legislature and signed by the governor. The state constitution mandates the state budget to be adopted by April 1.

The tax levy has not increased in the last two school years. The budget failed to pass in the 2020-2021 school year, freezing the levy, and the current budget provided no tax levy increase thanks to a nearly $14 million state aid boost for the current school year.

Superintendent Augustine Tornatore said during the administration’s final budget presentation Tuesday night that a “very conservative tax levy increase” was an important goal.

“Certainly we were trying to get as close to 0% or .5% as possible, but with the 1% we will be able to do everything that we need to for our students,” Tornatore told the school board.

The proposed budget includes spending of $100 million on instruction costs, a $6.7 million (7.2%) increase over the current year. Spending on instruction comprises nearly 60% of the district’s total expenditures. The district is budgeting for a major transition next year with the reinstitution of a nine-period day for the middle school and high school, and the expansion of elective courses. 

The district intends to hire 15 new full-time employees at the high school and four new full-time employees at the middle school to cover the expansion to a nine-period day. The regular day school budget includes a more than 5% increase to cover the new staff — as well as an anticipated 53-student enrollment increase at the Riverhead Charter School.

Tornatore said next year the district “will be at a good place with staff” and will be able to be “extremely conservative” with the tax levy. 

Acting Superintendent for Finance and Operations Faith Caglianone made two prior budget presentations to the board of education. The first presentation on Feb. 8 covered the general support and debt service expenditures. See prior coverage. The second presentation on March 8 covered expenditures for “regular day school,” facilities, security transportation, curriculum and instruction administration, and employee benefits. See prior coverage.

In her final presentation Tuesday, Caglianone presented projected expenditures for special education, technology and other instructional areas and discussed anticipated revenues.

 >>>See presentation below.

The special education budget is projected at $23.59 million — a more than 10% increase over the current school year. The largest increase is for personnel expenses, projected to rise nearly $1.8 million due to hiring in this school year and expected in the next school year, Caglianone said. The budget projects an $736,976 increase in BOCES expenditures, which covers the cost of anticipated enrollment for special needs students for full-day services, Caglianone said. 

The technology budget is projected to increase 28.9% to $3.2 million. The increase is driven by an increase in BOCES technology expenses — among them the purchase of printers and computers through BOCES, which is offset by a reduction in the equipment budget line.

Caglianone also presented budgets for instructional areas. Here are the proposed budget amounts for each area and how they would change compared to the 2021-22 school year: 

• ENL: $4.7 million, a $212,954 (4.8%) increase
• Career and technical education: $2.4 million, a $276,264 (13%) increase
• Summer school and other instruction: $1.6 million, a $36,980 (2.3%) decrease
• Library: $856,075, a $119,460 (16.2%) increase
• Guidance and attendance: $2.2 million a $92,630 (4.5%) increase
• Nursing: $1.3 million, a $182,326 (17%) increase
• Counseling and pupil personnel services: $2.5 million, a $27,424 (1.11%) increase
• Extracurricular activities: $260,749, a $2,273 (.88%) increase
• Athletics: $1,447,907, a $62,983 (4.6%) increase

The budget proposal also includes a $1.5 million transfer to the capital fund to upgrade the district’s security system. The money would cover the first phase of the project, which aims to reduce the amount of personnel needed to cover entrances to the buildings, and entails the installation of security technology upgrades, door access and monitoring, and software upgrades to camera systems. The $1.5 million would cover the installation of door access technology in the district’s secondary schools, Caglianone said. The door access technology in the primary schools would occur at a later date.   

“After discussion with Dr. Tornatore and our head of security, we realized that… the demand on our personnel to cover every door and access point throughout the building is constantly increasing,” Caglianone said. “So by having this capital project, it will allow us to leverage technology, which would be in the best interest of the district’s future.”

There would be no change in the amount of funds transferred by the district for the extended school year special education program compared to the previous school year. Approximately 80% of the program is covered by federal funds; the money transferred by the district, $350,000, will be used to cover the local share of the program’s cost. 

Alongside whether to approve the budget, voters will see one other proposition on the ballot this May. The proposition will ask voters whether to authorize the use of not more than $66,000 cafeteria capital reserve funds to purchase a walk-in refrigerator at Phillips Avenue Elementary, two warming cabinets at the high school and two milk coolers at Riley Avenue Elementary. The reserve fund was created in 2018 and the authorization to use the funds would have no impact on the tax levy. 

On April 12, Caglianone will present the final state revenue projections based on the governor’s budget and the Board of Education will vote on whether to adopt the budget to present to district voters.

The public hearing on the proposed budget will take place on May 10.

The budget vote and election will take place on May 17.

Riverhead Budget Presentation March 22, 2022 by RiverheadLOCAL on Scribd

See first presentation (Feb. 8)

See second presentation (March 8)