No Surprises at Quogue School Budget Hearing

At Tuesday night’s Quogue School District's budget hearing, Superintendent Richard Benson outlined the proposed 2011-2012 budget before a handful of attendees.

According to Benson, the $7,546,553 budget reflects a 3.56 percent increase in spending from last year, which translates to a 3.98 percent tax levy increase.

The school's $612,409 administrative budget line, said Benson, makes up 7.84 percent of the budget and reflects a 1.9 percent increase from last year.

Employee benefits, said Benson, are going up by 10.17 percent. In dollars, employee benefits are rising from $934,150 to $1,029,180 for 2011-2012.

To offset taxes, Benson said the school has collected $184,000 in tuition from the 41 non-resident students enrolled in the district.

“We look at it in a philosophical way,” said Benson during the budget presentation. “The school building is going to cost $7.2 million to run whether there are 5 or 15 students in a class. The tuition is additional revenue.”

According to Benson, the budget carries with it an estimated tax rate of $1.83 per thousand of full-assessed valuation, which equates to an annual tax of $1,880 for a house or property fully assessed at one million dollars.

This is a year-to-year increase of $50.00.

That number may change, noted Benson, who said that it depends on the final assessment roles, which have not yet been provided by the Southampton Assessor’s office.

For now, the district, is going on “reasonable estimates,” that the assessor has provided, said Benson.

The budget vote will be held next Tuesday at the Quogue School library between 2:00 to 8:00 p.m.