Voters in the Riverhead Central School District will decide whether to approve a $192 million budget for next school year — and elect a majority of the school board — during tomorrow’s annual vote.
Polls are open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Voters cast their ballots at their local K-4 elementary schools. Find your polling location here.
The budget totals $191,999,210 — a 13.1% increase over the current year. It maintains the current number of full-time school district faculty and staff, although it absorbs the cost of some of those employees currently funded by coronavirus stimulus funds received by the district, according to Superintendent Augustine Tornatore.
Read more about the proposed budget passed by the board here.
The budget proposal also authorizes the district to increase the property tax levy by 1%, allowing the district to generate an additional $1.02 million in revenue.
The school district is expected to receive $76.1 million in state aid this school year — a record amount that reflects the first year of fully funded foundation aid. The school district’s proposed budget included estimated state aid amounts provided in the governor’s proposed state budget based on incomplete data. When the state received complete data for Riverhead, the state aid amount increased significantly. The higher level of state aid allows the district to rely less on reserves and fund balance to cover expenditures, while still keeping the tax levy increase at 1%, well under the state-imposed tax levy cap, Tornatore said.
Read more about the updated state aid numbers here.
This year, four seats on the seven-seat school board are up for grabs. Three full three-year terms, which start July 1, will go to the three candidates who receive the most votes in the election. The candidate who places fourth will fill a partial term — vacated in March by the resignation of Trustee Laurie Downs — and start once the vote is certified. That partial term ends in June 2025.
Seven candidates have thrown their hats in the ring this year, including incumbent Trustee Virginia Healy, who is seeking her second term. All the other candidates — David Dougherty, Eve Kaplan-Walbrecht, Erica Murphy, Cynthia Redmond, James Scudder and Kimberly Wilder — are newcomers.
Read more about all the candidates in our article released last week here.
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