Sayville Voting Guide: Budgets, Busing Proposal & BOE/Library Trustee Elections

Sayville School District taxpayers will vote on a proposed $85,674,961 budget Tuesday, a proposal to expand the transportation availability with no additional cost to residents, as well as budget propositions for the historical society and Sayville Library.

The ballot also includes the election of three school board of education trustees and two library trustee positions.

School Budget Proposition

The proposed spending plan meets the state-mandated tax levy cap of 2 percent and represents a 4.76% spending increase over the current school year budget of $81,779,400 and a projected tax rate increase of 2.33 percent, about $13.42 a month, based on the average home with an assessed valuation of $40,000. The new tax rate would be 17.723 per $100 of assessed value, a .40 increase over this year’s 17.32 rate.

The proposal does not reflect any staff layoffs and includes the addition of a special education program for current students placed out of district and offers the potential to tuition-in students if there are available openings.

According to the district, the proposal includes contractual step increases only for teaching and administration and no salary increase. All the district’s five contracts are due to expire this year. The proposal reflects a 10 percent increase for health insurance and a 6.7 percent increase for employee retirement system costs.

Transportation Policy Referendum

The district is proposing to expand the current busing allowance for students in grades third through fifth.

The current district transportation policy offers busing for kindergartners through second graders living a half mile or more, third grade to fifth graders living a mile or more and sixth to twelfth graders living one and a half miles from their school.

The new policy would give busing to kindergarteners through fifth grade students who live a half mile from their school, and retain the mileage requirement as is for the older students.

There is no additional cost to the proposal, according to district officials, as current buses have available space for the extra student population.

Sayville Library Budget Proposal

The proposed budget of $3,583,287 represents a tax rate of $1.1321 per $100 of assessed valuation, over the current rate of $1.1068 for this year’s budget of $3,503,400. The estimated annual cost for a home assessed at $40,00 would be an additional $10.10, according to the library budget flyer.

According to the library, there are 4,358 new cardholders since the library re-located to the new Greene Avenue facility three years ago, and the increase brings the number of residents with library cards to 79 percent of the Sayville-West Sayville communities.

Sayville Historical Society Budget Proposal
(included as part of the library proposal)
The budget proposal would increase the tax rate for homeowners, per $100 of assessed valuation, by 0.017, increasing the current budget of $55,012 by $112 over this year’s budget of $55,124.00. The budget includes $36,360 for building upkeep, $19,000 for insurance, a part-time salary of $19,000, $7,000 for utilities and $6,240 for grounds upkeep.

BOE/Library Trustee Races

There are three school board of education seats up for re-election, with just one contested race as current board members Keith Kolar and John Verdone are running unopposed. BOE President Raymond Nelson is being challenged by newcomer Laura Valente.

In the library trustee race, there are two seats on the ballot. Incumbent Debra Mitchell, whose four-year term ends in 2016, is running unopposed. Two challengers are vying for a five-year open seat. is facing off against .

Voting will take place on Tuesday, May 15 at the Sayville High School from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.