West Hempstead's school budget passes, voters reject Wainscott's
Voters Tuesday approved West Hempstead's proposed budget, with1,989 in favor and 1,670 opposed. Credit: Newsday/Jeff Schamberry
West Hempstead’s school budget passed on the second try Tuesday night with an expanded voter turnout, while tiny Wainscott's spending plan went down in a result that local officials termed a stunner.
Those two school systems are the only ones on Long Island that failed to pass budgets on the first try May 16. Spending plans are for the 2023-24 school year, which begins July 1.
West Hempstead’s proposed $74,125,176 budget — the same as the plan rejected last month — carries a 4.2% spending increase, and a property tax hike of 1.99%.
The vote there was 1,989 in favor, 1,670 opposed. That was well above the May vote of 1,370 to 1,169.
Six of the district’s seven school board trustees, led by president Karen Brohm, defended their decision to put up an identical budget for a second try, on grounds that it is fiscally reasonable.
“The Board believes that this budget proposal effectively addresses the needs of all students in the district while also being fiscally responsible to the residents of West Hempstead,” majority trustees stated in a recent brochure posted on the district’s website before the latest vote.
Wainscott lost its second consecutive budget vote Tuesday night, leaving the tiny East End district with the question of how to fund nearly half of its operations.
For its revote, Wainscott offered residents a slightly reduced budget of $6,144,331, along with a whopping tax-levy increase of more than 95%. The plan was far beyond limits of the state's strict tax-cap law, so the budget needed a 60% majority to pass.
Instead, voter support was lower on the second vote than the first, with 79 residents in favor and 67 opposed.
"I am personally stunned by this — we need to regroup," said David Eagan, president of Wainscott's school board. He went on to say the board would "consider all options" for future operations, but declined to cite specifics.
In a past statement, board members said they might seek special state legislation to give their district greater financial flexibility.
Wainscott has trimmed $17,000 from its revised budget for the revote.
The district’s three trustees — Eagan, Kelly Anderson and William Babinski — contended in a statement issued before Tuesday's vote that large fluctuations in budgeting and taxation are beyond the district’s control. Due to its small size, they said, an unexpected influx of students had a major impact on finances.
Under the state’s strict tax-cap law, the district faces a tax freeze for the coming year, along with a so-called "contingency" budget. Because of its small size and ballooning expenses, the prospective tax freeze would create a situation that trustees had described before the vote as "an unprecedented and highly disruptive financial crisis."
John Hildebrand is Newsday's senior education writer and has covered school news and policy issues affecting Long Island for more than 40 years.
