The Riverhead school district is proposing a $211.4 million budget for the 2025-2026 school year — an increase of nearly $10 million, or roughly 5%, over its current budget.
The spending increase would be funded with a combination of additional state aid, an increase in the property tax levy and an increase in the allocation of fund balance and reserves, according to a presentation by Interim Assistant Superintendent for Business Marianne Cartisano at Tuesday night’s school board meeting.
The district’s property tax levy would increase by 2.16% to $110.1 million. The 2.16% increase is within the maximum tax levy cap set by the state comptroller. A tax levy increase at or under the state cap allows the budget to be passed by a simple majority of voters.
The district anticipates a state aid increase of $5.6 million in the 2025-2026 fiscal year, bringing anticipated state aid to $86.1 million for the year.
The district will apply about $6.5 million in fund balance and $1.3 million in reserves to fund the budget.
Other projected revenues include payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTS) of $5.1 million, tuition of $705,000 and interest income/income for services to other districts/income from equipment sales of $1.6 million.
See the district’s proposes 2025-2026 budget proposal here.
The bulk of the spending increase in 2025-2026 — $7.7 million — is to pay for student instruction, according to budget documents prepared by Cartisano.
The costs of health and dental insurance — usually a “budget buster” for school districts and municipalities — are only anticipated to increase 1.24%, something the administrators are “very happy about,” Cartisano said.
Cartisano’s budget presentation Tuesday (watch it here) was the first of three budget presentations she will make to the board before it votes to send the proposal to district voters for approval in May.
The board will hold a public hearing on the budget on May 6 at 7 p.m. at Riverhead High School.
The district’s budget documents are available to review and download on its website.
Here’s a breakdown of the different sections of the budget and how they’re changing:
Instructional programs
Instructional programs are the largest part of the school district’s budget, making up nearly 60% of total expenditures. This part of the budget is where most of the district’s employees, including teachers, administrators, IT staff, social workers and school psychologists are paid from.
Instructional programs are currently funded at roughly $117 million. The proposal would increase that amount by $7.73 million, or 6.59%, to $124.9 million. The district tried to offset the costs of its by decreasing
The largest increases in this section would be $3.3 million for its programs for students with disabilities and $2.79 million for regular tuition, according to the budget proposal. The district’s English language learning budget will increase by $418,581 and its occupational education budget by $588,566, according to the presentation.
Administrators are also proposing increasing the budget for the “special school” line by $393,987, or 22.91%. That budget line funds summer school programs — which was funded by grants that are no longer available — and education for students at the Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Riverside, Cartisano said.
Undistributed
The “undistributed” part of the budget is the spending plan for employee benefits, including health insurance and retirement benefits, as well as the funds to pay off the district’s debt service.
This section would increase from $55.4 million to $56.6 million, or 2.15%. All of that increase is due to the rising cost of employee benefits, a total of $1.49 million, offset by a $300,238 decrease in the district debt service, according to Cartisano’s presentation.
General support services
General support services is a category that encompasses several district functions. It includes the budgets for the Board of Education; the salaries of the district clerk and superintendent; the budget for the district’s business office; the budget for its legal counsel and personnel department; and the costs and salaries for school security and custodial staff, among other costs.
The general support services budget would increase from $19 million to $19.4 million, or 2.15%.
The bulk of this section is for the district’s operations staff — employees like security guards and custodians — which increased $576,220, according to the presentation.
There is also a projected $416,424 decrease in the business administration budget, which Cartisano said was a part of restructuring the office to use an in-house accountant, rather than an accounting service.
Transportation
The budget for the district’s transportation department is increasing $645,678, or 6.54%. The transportation budget covers costs associated with the maintenance of school buses and the bus garage, the salaries of bus drivers and transportation staff, and contracts with outside agencies and companies for transportation of district students.
Candidate packets for school board candidates available
Packets for district residents interested in running for election to the Riverhead Board of Education are now available. The deadline to submit the packet is April 21 at 5 p.m..
The annual budget vote and election will be held on May 20 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Riverhead High School.
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