Southampton board adopts $84.54 million budget with 1% tax-levy increase

The Southampton Union Free School District board voted to adopt a $84,536,962 budget for the 2026–27 fiscal year, approving a 1% increase to the tax levy and several reserve and capital spending requests.

Assistant Superintendent for Business and Operations (S5) presented the proposal, saying the districtxpects about 80% of revenue to come from property taxes and noting a heavy reliance on locally generated revenue: "Southampton is a district that is primarily funded by the community, at 80% in terms of the tax levy," S5 said, adding that state aid represents only a small share.

The administration told the board it used a retirement-incentive program to reduce staffing needs without layoffs; 29 employees accepted the incentive and the district described a series of instructional and noninstructional reductions to align staff with current enrollment. S4 summarized that "we had to right-size our budget and our to match our enrollment," and described reductions in teacher aides, custodial positions and some extracurricular staffing.

The budget package includes reserve propositions that will go to the May budget vote. S5 said the board is asking voters to approve use of technology reserves to purchase instructional devices and a 10-year capital reserve request of $2.7 million for projects such as replacement of roughly 46,000 square feet of roofing at the high school and kitchen equipment at the elementary school. S5 also noted the district plans to appropriate roughly $3.1 million from reserves as part of the revenue mix.

Board members asked about program continuity and potential impacts on students; administrators said program reductions were targeted to areas of low enrollment and that academic intervention and enrichment priorities would be preserved. The clerk called the roll for the adoption motion and recorded affirmative votes from board members present; the motion passed.

Next steps: the budget and related propositions will appear on the district ballot on May 19, 2026, pending standard publication of notices and election logistics.