Greenport School Budget Passes; Voters Pierce Tax Cap

GREENPORT, NY — Voters have spoken, and a proposed 2018 to 2019 Greenport Union Free School District budget of $19,038,000 that represents a tax levy of 4.62 percent, piercing the cap, passed 243 to 133, according to unofficial results posted by the district.

Three candidates faced off for two board of education seats and winning the race for a three year term were incumbents Babette Cornine, with 229 votes and Daniel Creedon, with 221; they faced off against newcomer Sonia Spar.

The budget, as well as the Southold school district's, seeks to preserve programs and services, including adding a security guard and a comprehensive Pre-K program and secondary school program.

Sharing services with the Southold school district, said Superintendent David Gamberg in a budget message, has saved Greenport and Southold taxpayers almost $1 million.

"While the Greenport budget pierces the tax cap, it is not the highest tax levy increase," Gamberg told Patch; he added that there are other districts with tax levies of more than 13 percent.

"There are 124 districts on Long Island and the tax cap started at the same time for all of them several years ago. They were not all at the same starting point in terms of resources, staffing, reserves, etc.," he said.

Looking back 15 to 20 years ago, some districts had relatively high increases, each year, over a period of time from five to 15 years, Gamberg said, adding that in Greenport, pre-tax cap, the budgets reflected a 0 percent increase and were sometimes negative, he said.

Greenport's budget, he added, remains "a relatively low amount" compared to other districts islandwide. "Finally, enrollment continues to increase in Greenport and is falling in other districts," he said.

In his budget message, Gamberg wrote, "Greenport residents have a history of supporting the education of its students, something that makes me proud to serve this community."

In 2016, he added, residents were asked to pierce the tax cap with a tax levy increase of 8.52 percent. "And you did," he said.

Kim Swann, president of the Greenport PTO, explained why piercing the cap is necessary. "Two years ago, we asked the taxpayers to pay almost nine percent more and now we're asking for another four percent — or we risk losing staff and programs such as the Pre-K program, driver's ed and several sports teams."

Swann added, "We have slowly been trying to rebuild our school and taking cuts would be a step backward. I am fully aware that we cannot ask the taxpayers to support piercing the cap year after year and I will pressure the Board of Education and the administration to come up with a long-term plan to put us in a better financial position, but for the immediate future, this is what we need to do for our students. They deserve a quality education in a safe and healthy environment
Passing this budget points us in the right direction."