Three Village, Islip, Bayport-Blue Point, Locust Valley, South Country school budgets approved in revote

Voters in five Long Island districts approved budgets for the 2026-27 school year after the first spending proposals failed, according to early returns Tuesday night.

In Three Village, voters greenlit the district's spending proposal by a vote of 2,096-1,817. In South Country, which is in the midst of a financial crisis due to mismanagement and overspending, the budget was approved by a vote of 2,018-1,300. The vote in Islip was 895-406. In Locust Valley, the budget passed by a vote of 1,407-874. 

The budget for the Bayport-Blue Point district, the only system that again sought to pierce its state-imposed tax levy cap, passed by a vote of 1,697-769. The 68.8% passage rate met the required supermajority of 60% voter support for approval.

Superintendent Timothy Hearney said in a statement the district is "grateful to our community" for their support.

"This budget will enable the district to continue to provide our students with the high-quality educational opportunities, programs and services we have developed here in BBP over the years," his statement read.

All five districts had lowered their proposed tax levy increases since residents voted down their initial budgets in May. Some had made additional cuts.

Locust Valley, where the original budget stayed under its 2.84% cap, made further reductions totaling about $264,000 and lowered its levy increase from 2.1% to 1.78%. Officials there lowered spending from slightly above $100 million to $99,987,243.

Islip presented voters with a new budget of $105 million, with a tax levy increase of 1.82%. Officials trimmed nearly $433,000 by eliminating summer Regents review and summer curriculum writing and making cuts to clubs and athletics.

Newsday spoke to voters in the South Country, Three Village and Bayport-Blue Point districts Tuesday. They expressed anxiety over growing taxes but also a desire for continued good education for children.

The tax burden was particularly felt by senior citizens like June Adinolfi, 78, of Stony Brook.

“These taxes have been killing me,” Adinolfi said on her way to vote on Three Village’s budget.

Adinolfi said she felt she was helping pay for students to have things she cannot afford herself.

“Those kids have air conditioning. I don't have air conditioning," she said. "They have new computers. I don't have a new computer. I can’t afford that.”

Meanwhile, Christine Kazen, 78, of Bayport, supported the Bayport-Blue Point district’s new spending proposal. Kazen, who attended high school in the district, said she wants what’s best for students.

“Somebody paid their taxes for me to go to school here years ago,” she said. “It’s my turn.”

Contingency budget concerns

The South Country district had put forward a new budget that slashed nearly $6 million off the original $151 million. It calls for the layoff of nearly three dozen additional staffers on top of the 60 the district had planned to eliminate for 2026-27. It also gets rid of junior varsity sports, shrinks its music program and eliminates some AP courses.

Under the new plan, the tax levy will rise by 5.52%, the highest the district can go without piercing the cap. The district had previously proposed a 13.45% tax levy increase.

If the revote had failed, the district would have had to operate on a contingency budget and chop millions of dollars more in spending. To Michael Dawson, who has six grandchildren attending schools there, such cuts would hurt students who need a well-rounded education.

“Kids have got to learn,” said Dawson, 71, of Medford, who supported the budget both times. “They’ve got to have activities. Sports. Music. All that stuff.”

Keri Seif, a teacher in another district and mother of a 10th grader in South Country, said a contingency budget would be a disservice to children.

“They would be at a total disadvantage compared to kids in other districts, not having AP classes, having bigger classes, not having sports, not having their music, not having their art,” said Seif, 50, of East Patchogue.

Seif acknowledged the district's fiscal crisis but said children shouldn’t bear the consequences of mistakes made by adults.

“They need art, they need sports, they need their academic classes,” she said. “They shouldn't lose them because people made mistakes. Big mistakes. … But it shouldn't be on the kids.”

Bradley Masem, whose wife teaches at Bellport High School, had been worried about her job.

“It's just staggering … the amount of people who are hurting from this,” said Masem, 60, noting many positions would be eliminated. “These are people who are really, really suffering.”

If his wife lost her job, Masem said his family might have needed to move off Long Island, where his family has lived for generations. The East Patchogue resident paused as he became emotional when contemplating that outlook.

“We may have problems paying our mortgage,” he said. “It's going to be an exceptionally hard, uphill battle to live here on Long Island.”

To Douglas and Kristin Elliott, of Bellport, the region’s high taxes are driving people to leave. The husband and wife said they voted against the budget.

“Our taxes are beyond reasonable,” said Douglas Elliott, a 67-year-old retiree. “They're pricing everybody right off the Island. It's not fair.”

The Elliotts are both retirees and Kristin Elliott, 62, said the small bumps they see in their fixed income are absorbed by tax hikes.

“If you get a little boost in your Social Security, the taxes take it away,” she said. “If you get a boost in your pension, your taxes take it away.”

Staff, field trip cuts

Three Village district officials lowered spending by $1.6 million from the original $245 million budget by cutting staff and reducing costs for capital projects and field trips. The proposal also called for a lower levy increase, from the original 4.54%, which was equal to its tax limit, to 3.49%.

Jaime Hahn, a mother from South Setauket, had her daughter's future in mind when she voted Tuesday.

“I want to do everything to help her get the best education possible,” said Hahn, who supported the budget.

Sam Kaplin, a senior citizen from East Setauket, said she was going to support the budget as well “because I believe that you have to give back to the community.”

Meanwhile, some seniors said they believed they had paid their dues and should be exempt from contributing to the budget.

“I think the people who have their children in school should pay their taxes,” Adinolfi said. “Let the elderly, at least over 70, get a break. It’s really not fair.”

Jacqueline Taylor, 65, of Poquott, felt similarly.

“I am a senior citizen,” Taylor said. “I feel that I have paid enough in taxes for my kids to be educated here.”

Piercing the cap again

Mike Drum, of Blue Point, had said he was concerned about the district budget failing again.

Residents in Bayport-Blue Point rejected the initial budget proposal last month, which called for a 2.75% tax levy increase.

The district’s new proposal called for a 2% levy hike, still higher than its cap of -0.76%.

Drum, 50, said the schools are great but that comes with a cost. Drum said the 2% levy increase is “pretty much in line with every other budget in the county.”

Steven Mcbride, 68, voted against the proposal and suggested the budget be cut, citing empty buses entering and exiting schools.

“Get an efficiency expert in here and figure [it] out instead of running six giant buses with one kid,” said Mcbride, of Bayport.

Gloria Cerrito, 73, of Bayport, said that she was shocked that the original budget vote didn’t pass and was disappointed in residents who did not support the budget. Cerrito, a former educator, said that people forget how budgets impact schools.

“I was a teacher for 20 years as a second career, and I think they resent giving it to the teachers, and they don’t realize the programs they’re taking away — reading, sports, music, all those things that the kids need,” Cerrito said.

Rising property taxes have been a concern for Donna Edgar, 75, who lives on a fixed income, but the Bayport resident said she supported the budget to continue the quality of schools.

“If we want to maintain the level of excellence we have here, we need to pay the price for that,” Edgar said.