LI Residents To Vote On School Budgets, Board Members, and Propositions for 2024-25 School Year

Long Island Morning Edition

Nearly $16 billion in proposed school spending will appear on Long Island ballots tomorrow, along with 373 candidates running for boards in 124 districts, as voters make their annual trip to the polls to determine what their schools will look like in the next academic year. As reported by Newsday Staff, among the issues they will be considering: Overall school tax increases of 2.56%; spending that will rise an average of 4.18%; and in six districts, a proposed override of state cap limits on property taxes so those systems can raise additional revenue. In addition, dozens of districts have included special propositions on their ballots, some of which would raise taxes if approved.

School districts attempting to boost property taxes beyond the state's allowable cap limits usually warn residents that a "no" vote risks loss of student programs. Five districts in Suffolk County will try for cap overrides in Tuesday's voting - Sachem, West Babylon, East Hampton, Springs and Amagansett.

Under the cap law, overrides require voter majorities of at least 60%. Districts may submit budgets to voters twice, including revotes in June. Two failures force a freeze. This risk, while real, is relatively rare. In years past, most districts where residents voted "no" in the first round of balloting reduced budgets to keep within caps and win in the second round.

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Long Island residents will go to the polls tomorrow to vote on school budgets, board members and propositions for the 2024-25 school year.

Riverhead school district officials said their spending plan would eliminate 33 faculty positions and 18 teacher assistants because the district faces a “fiscal cliff” of nearly $20 million, officials said. The $20 million was the amount the district received in COVID-19 recovery grant money, set to run out this fall, officials said. Alek Lewis reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the budget proposes spending $9.4 million more than the current school year’s operating budget — a roughly 5% increase. The budget requires raising the school district’s current tax levy by 3.34% — the maximum allowable under the school district’s tax levy cap — to generate an additional $3.48 million from property taxes.

The most significant cost increases are in employee benefits and health insurance expenses, and instruction expenses, according to presentations by Interim Assistant Superintendent for Business Marianne Cartisano. The spending plan also includes some controversial cuts, including the elimination of 56.8 full-time equivalent faculty and staff positions through layoffs and attrition, and cutting some programs and classes if they don’t meet certain enrollment requirements.

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Suffolk County paid out $29.5 million in 2023 to settle lawsuits — including at least $13.1 million in cases involving police or prosecutorial actions — a nearly fourfold increase compared with 2022, records obtained by Newsday show. Settlement payouts reached $29,494,636 last year, compared with $7.7 million in 2022, according to documents obtained by Newsday through a Freedom of Information Law request along with the annual budget report of the Suffolk County Legislature's Office of Budget Review. Vera Chinese reports on Newsday.com that the county paid out $10.7 million in settlements in 2019, $2.7 million in 2020 and $17.9 million in 2021, when $16 million went to Keith Bush, who spent 33 years in prison for a 1975 North Bellport murder he did not commit.

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This evening at 6 p.m. is the last chance the public will have to weigh in - in person - on Riverhead Town’s Comprehensive Plan Update before it is finalized. The public will get a chance to formally comment on the town’s new comprehensive plan at a public hearing before the Town Board beginning at 6 p.m. Beth Young in EAST END BEACON reports that the final draft of the Comprehensive Plan Update released April 25 includes several changes to a draft document released in March.

The Comprehensive Plan Update process began in 2020, and suffered several setbacks during the Covid-19 pandemic that eventually led the town to hire a new consultant, BFJ Planning, in late 2022 to finish the project, in the midst of much public concern over development pressures in Riverhead.

Much of the plan’s recommendations address Future Land Use.

One of the most significant aspects of the plan is a series of recommendations for changes to the town’s industrial zoning districts, many of which are in the hamlet of Calverton, where residents have been asking for change for more than a year after proposals for several “high-cube” warehouses. A six month moratorium on development in the Calverton area was passed by the Riverhead Town Board in January.

After this evening’s public hearing, BFJ is expected to respond to the public comments in a Final Environmental Impact Statement, which must be approved, along with the Comprehensive Plan, by the Riverhead Town Board. The board can then go about making the code changes, which would also require future public hearings.

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For much of her whirlwind tour in Europe, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul focused on looking forward for solutions to worldwide crises like global warming and a lack of affordable housing.

But as she visited County Kerry, Ireland, Ms. Hochul paused to linger in the past. Claire Fahy reports in THE NY TIMES that here in Kilshannig, a small fishing village on a remote stretch of sandy beach, the governor is still known as Kathleen Courtney, the granddaughter of John Courtney and Mary Browne, who emigrated separately to the United States as teenagers over a century ago in search of greater opportunity.

They would later meet in Chicago, where they married before moving to Buffalo, the governor’s hometown, to work at the steel mill there. Every so often, as money and time allowed, the family would make the trip back to their childhood home in Ireland.

Yesterday, around 100 local residents, county council members and relatives gathered in Spillane’s Bar in Fahamore for a civic reception to honor Ms. Hochul.

Almost everyone who crowded into the low-ceilinged pub looking for a selfie or a handshake with their distinguished American guest claimed to share ancestry with the governor through her grandparents.

As Ms. Hochul smiled for photos, hugged and shook hands with the people and descendants of the people who used to call her grandparents neighbors, she tried to keep everyone’s stories straight, she said.

“It meant something to me,” Ms. Hochul said. “It’s humbling for me to know that I could be in a position like this, despite two generations ago where we started from.”

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The sky at Main Beach in East Hampton will be filled with colorful kites this coming Saturday, May 25, when the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center hosts its second annual Kites for Kids Day from 2 to 5 p.m. Last year’s inaugural Kites for Kids had more than 1,200 attendees come out to raise money for the nonprofit child care organization.

Parking is free at East Hampton Main Beach for all attendees. Kites are $10 and may then be decorated at one of the kid art stations set up at Main Beach. Volunteers will be on hand to help decorate, fly, untangle, whatever help you need.

Proceeds from sale of kites helps the center maintain affordable childcare and high-quality early learning programs for children ages 18 months to 4 years old from working families.

For more information, go to ewecc.org.

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Police officers across the North Fork will soon wear body cameras alongside their badges.

Riverhead and Southold police departments are each getting state grants — $1.47 million for Riverhead and $980,225 for Southold — to cover the cost of the cameras and systems required to store footage. Tara Smith reports on Newsday.com that the departments are the latest on Long Island to equip its officers with the technology, joining Nassau and Suffolk County Police Departments. Advocates say cameras enhance officer safety and accountability and improve public trust. More than 300 agencies statewide were awarded $127 million to boost public safety through technology upgrades like license plate readers and cameras, Gov. Kathy Hochul said May 13.

In Suffolk, 21 agencies were awarded $12.8 million, the largest grant of $7.1 million awarded to the county police department.

Riverhead Town Police Chief David Hegermiller said the grant will cover the cost of 100 cameras for the department, which has 95 officers and plans to hire five more.

"We have no issue wearing them," Hegermiller said. "It’ll be positive for the community and for the force."

Officers will need training on how to use the cameras and follow procedures for proper use.

In Southold Town, 45 officers will be outfitted with cameras. The grant also will fund new portable radios to allow officers to toggle between networks and communicate with other regional agencies.

Five Southold officers wore body cameras in a pilot program in August, according to Police Chief Martin Flatley.

He said he was “impressed” by the footage since it goes beyond traditional dashboard camera video. “It gives a perspective of what they're going through and the decisions that they have to make,” Flatley said.

Both police chiefs expect officers to be paid stipends to wear the cameras, but the exact amounts are still under negotiation with police unions.

Similar agreements are in place for the Suffolk County Police Department, which struck a deal in 2021 to pay officers a $1,000 annual stipend for the first three years, and $3,000 after. Nassau pays officers $3,000 annually to wear body cameras.