Shelter Island school board votes to seek 6.9% tax increase, first on Long Island to attempt busting 2% school tax cap

Superintendent Brian Doelger at a school board meeting on Monday... — Superintendent Brian Doelger at a school board meeting on Monday where officials voted to seek a 6.9% tax increase. Credit: Elizabeth Sagarin

By John Hildebrandjohn.hildebrand@newsday.com @johnhnewsdayUpdated April 7, 2025 9:36 pm

Shelter Island school officials are pushing for a 6.9% tax hike that would override the district's cap limit and mark the first such effort announced by a school system on Long Island this year.

Approval of the cap-busting move came in a unanimous vote Monday by five board members with two absent. The override attempt, which has been under discussion for several weeks, has stirred controversy in this small East End district where town officials are now engaged in a separate effort to reassess values of all houses and other taxable properties.

Brian Doelger, the district's superintendent, described the proposed tax boost for the 2025-26 school year as a necessity driven by rising costs of special education, bus transportation and other services.

"To stay within the tax cap next year would require great change in the character of our school," Doelger said at Monday's meeting.

Doelger told Newsday before the board vote that the district regretted the fact that Albany lawmakers have not yet decided exactly how much state financial aid his system will receive.

Under law, state budgets including money allocated for public schools are supposed to be approved by April 1. Budgets usually run late, however, and Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders still are negotiating details of next year's spending package in Albany.

In Shelter Island, some residents already have criticized the proposed tax-cap override. Any such action requires approval by at least 60% of local voters.

The statewide limit for 2025-26 has been set at the maximum 2% for the fourth year in a row.

Bob Fredericks, a retired school official who has lived on Shelter Island for 25 years, said in a recent phone interview that he would expect any override attempt to run into considerable opposition.

"I feel pretty strongly, if they attempt to pierce the cap, they will not get the 60%," Fredericks said.

Fredericks cited effects of townwide property reassessments as one cause of taxpayer unease. This year’s statewide voting on district spending and taxes is scheduled for May 20.

If adopted, Shelter Island's proposed budget for the 2025-26 school year would rise 5.8% to a total $13,855,325. Property-tax collections, known as a levy, would increase 6.9%.

At a March 10 board meeting, Doelger suggested that a cap override would raise revenues needed to maintain the high academic quality of Shelter Island's educational offerings.

The schools chief, now in his sixth year in the district, said that Shelter Island recently added Advanced Placement courses that allow some students to earn as much as a year-and-a-half of college credit while still in high school. The superintendent added that the district recently expanded its preschool program to include 3-year-olds, in addition to 4-year-olds previously enrolled.

Doelger noted that the local high school’s AP program recently won "platinum" honors from the Manhattan-based College Board that sponsors AP courses and exams. Shelter Island was among 17 public high schools on the Island — and the only one in Suffolk County — to win this highest designation from College Board.

"It’s a pretty big deal," Doelger said.

Shelter Island enrolls about 200 students in preschool through 12th grade, and currently operates on an annual budget of about $13 million.

At the town assessor’s office, an official said that reevaluating all properties in town was intended to bring assessed values of homes and other buildings up to 100% of market price and, thereby, make taxation fairer. The official added that new assessment values would be announced by May 1, and that any property owners seeking to grieve their taxes would be given a chance to do so on May 20.

Statewide, districts each year are required to report taxation plans to the state Comptroller’s Office by March 1. This year, none of Long Island’s districts, including Shelter Island, indicated initially that they intended to bust their caps. Such plans can be revised, however, as budget proposals are finalized in late April.