{"id":601036,"date":"2026-04-23T05:57:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T05:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/601036\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T05:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T05:57:09","slug":"south-country-school-board-adopts-budget-with-13-tax-levy-hike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/601036\/","title":{"rendered":"South Country school board adopts budget with 13% tax levy hike"},"content":{"rendered":"

The South Country school board adopted a spending plan on Wednesday to 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.<\/p>\n

The levy increase pierces South Country\u2019s cap of 5.52%, meaning at least 60% of the voters would have to approve the budget in the May 19 public vote.\u00a0For an average homeowner, the tax hike means an additional $749 per year in their school taxes.<\/p>\n

If voters approve a money-saving proposition to allow South Country to reduce the transportation radius for children attending private schools, the levy increase would be 12.19%, meaning a yearly increase of $666 for an average homeowner.<\/p>\n

District officials said this budget proposal would preserve core programs and allow the district to stabilize its finances.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis budget isn’t just about eliminating a deficit,\u201d Superintendent Antonio Santana said. \u201cIt’s about creating stability, rebuilding trust and putting this district in a position to move forward with confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vote Wednesday night at Bellport Middle School was 6-1, with Trustee Cheryl Felice casting the sole dissenting vote.<\/p>\n

\"Kerim<\/p>\n

Kerim Odekon, of Brookhaven, addresses the board during a meeting of the South Country school district Board in Bellport on Wednesday. Credit: Steve Pfost<\/p>\n

District officials previously presented board members three possible options to make up a $5.67 million budget gap: raise the levy by 13.45%;\u00a0increase it\u00a0by 9.26% and\u00a0reduce the budget by an additional $3 million; or absorb the shortfall by cutting more positions and programs.<\/p>\n

John Belmonte, the district’s acting assistant superintendent for finance and management services, said the district has already shaved nearly $9 million off its $150.5 million spending plan, including additional administrative jobs since a budget presentation last week.<\/p>\n

Any further reduction, he said during a meeting Monday, would mean going down to \u201cthe meat and the bones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeking a tax cap override has historically been difficult and would come at a time when taxpayers have questioned how district officials handled past budgets.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s deputy comptroller earlier this month found district officials significantly underbudgeted costs and used one-time funding for recurring expenses.<\/p>\n

Belmonte emphasized that the 2026-27 budget is one built on real numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was based on actual numbers, based on contracts, based on existing historical costs,\u201d he said Wednesday. \u201cThere was really no guesswork that went into that budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Public criticism<\/p>\n

District officials have faced criticism over their handling of the budgeting process and oversight of the district\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n

Before a school board meeting on Monday, Gregory C. Miglino Jr., a former board member, called on the State Attorney General\u2019s Office to investigate. The AG’s\u00a0office on Tuesday declined to comment.<\/p>\n

A separate petition circulated by parents called for Santana to step down, saying he has been \u201cineffective and incompetent.\u201d Abena Asare, a parent, said more than 130 community members have signed the petition.<\/p>\n

In a statement Wednesday, Santana said he understood the community\u2019s anger but noted the district has changed leadership in its business office and he intends to \u201ccontinue coming to work every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI will continue to work with our Board and our community to navigate these challenges and return our district to a strong financial footing,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Critics in recent months have pointed to the district\u2019s overspending of the voter-approved 2024-25 budget by $3.5 million.<\/p>\n

Despite freezing discretionary spending since last fall,\u00a0the district will have a $10.5 million deficit by the end of June, the comptroller\u2019s office projected. For 2026-27, the district is facing a $5.67 million shortfall even after eliminating dozens of staffing positions.<\/p>\n

South Country is scheduled to hold a budget hearing on May 6 before the May 19 vote.<\/p>\n

\"Dandan<\/p>\n

\n\tDandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The South Country school board adopted a spending plan on Wednesday to raise the tax levy by 13.45%,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,526,451,3,5478,452,453],"class_list":["post-601036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-suffolk","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}