South Country school board adopts budget with 13% tax levy hike

The South Country school board adopted a spending plan Wednesday that would raise the tax levy by 13.45%, an unusually high tax hike that school officials said is necessary to fill a multimillion-dollar shortfall in its 2026-27 budget.

The levy increase pierces South Country’s cap of 5.52%, meaning at least 60% of the voters would have to approve the budget in the May 19 public vote. For an average homeowner, the hike means an additional $749 per year in their school taxes, according to district officials.

The levy increase could be lowered to 12.19%, meaning $666 more in annual taxes for the average homeowner, if voters approve a proposition allowing South Country to reduce the transportation radius for children attending private schools from 25 miles to 15. That proposition will also be on the May 19 ballot.

The budget proposal approved Wednesday eliminates about 60 positions. But district officials said it would preserve core programs and allow the district to stabilize its finances.

“This budget isn't just about eliminating a deficit,” Superintendent Antonio Santana said. “It's about creating stability, rebuilding trust and putting this district in a position to move forward with confidence.”

The vote Wednesday night at Bellport Middle School was 6-1, with trustee Cheryl Felice casting the sole dissenting vote.

Felice said she had planned to vote for the proposal but changed her mind after board president E. Anne Hayes interrupted her while she was making a statement. Hayes said she wanted to complete questions from the trustees before they proceeded to vote and she didn’t agree with some of the things Felice said.

“If I would have been allowed to just finish my statement, I would have supported this budget,” Felice said at the meeting. “But since I wasn't, I'm not going to.”

Hayes declined to comment on Felice's vote after the meeting.

“I think what was important tonight was the board … adopted a budget that sets the district on a path to a future that … provides the programs and activities that we've come to value in South Country,” she said.

Felice said she would support the budget as a voter in the ballot box.

“I don't want to see the students suffer,” she said. “At this point, I want to see the students get everything they can.”

Public criticism

District officials have faced criticism over their handling of the budgeting process and oversight of the district’s finances.

The state’s deputy comptroller earlier this month found district officials significantly underbudgeted costs and used one-time funding for recurring expenses.

The district announced last fall that it had overspent the voter-approved 2024-25 budget by $3.5 million.

Despite freezing discretionary spending and cutting dozens of positions for the current school year, the comptroller’s office projected the district will have a $10.5 million deficit by the end of June. For 2026-27, district officials have said they face a $5.67 million shortfall even with the elimination of staffing positions.

District officials had previously presented board members with three possible options to make up next school year's budget gap: raise the levy by 13.45%, increase it by 9.26% and reduce the budget by an additional $3 million, or absorb the shortfall by cutting more positions and programs.

John Belmonte, the district's acting assistant superintendent for finance and management services, said during a meeting Monday that the district had already shaved nearly $9 million off its $150.5 million spending plan. Any further reduction, he said, would have meant going down to “the meat and the bones.”

Belmonte emphasized Wednesday that the 2026-27 budget was built on real numbers.

“It was based on actual numbers, based on contracts, based on existing historical costs,” he said. “There was really no guesswork that went into that budget.”

Calls for resignation

Before the school board meeting on Monday, Gregory C. Miglino Jr., a former board member, called on the state Attorney General’s Office to investigate. The Attorney General's Office on Tuesday declined to comment.

A separate petition circulated by parents called for Santana to step down, saying he has been “ineffective and incompetent.” Abena Asare, a parent, said more than 130 community members have signed the petition.

In a statement Wednesday, Santana said he understood the community’s anger but noted the district has changed leadership in its business office and he intends to “continue coming to work every day.”

“I will continue to work with our Board and our community to navigate these challenges and return our district to a strong financial footing,” he wrote.

Asare, a mother of two children in the district, said Wednesday night she was not sure if she would vote yes on the budget in May.

“I don't feel like I can just easily vote yes, because how long do you vote yes and see the same outcome?” she said. “We have to ask for more beyond trying to vote yes and allow them to do the same economic mismanagement and come back year after year for more.”

Tom Senefelder, a father of two in the district, said Thursday he would not support the budget because it did not address what he considered to be the core problems.

To him, the staffing cuts did not go deep enough and the district still has “excessive staff,” he said. Senefelder is also concerned about continued borrowing to pay down debts.

Senefelder said he would like to see the district implement a contingency budget, which would mean a 0% levy increase, believing that would usher in changes — albeit painful — to put the district on the right track.

“That’ll force the district to go into a point of restructuring the district and meet the concerns of the residents,” he said. “If they don't do it, they're going to tax people out of the district.” 

South Country is scheduled to hold a budget hearing on May 6 before the May 19 vote. 

By Dandan Zou

dandan.zou@newsday.com@DandanZou

Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.