Four Long Island School Districts Seek to Exceed State Property Tax Cap

Shelter Island, Bayport-Blue Point, Uniondale, and Lynbrook have each announced plans to pierce New York State's statutory property tax levy cap for the 2026-27 school year, citing rising costs for health insurance, transportation, and contractual obligations as the driving forces behind requests that remain historically rare across Long Island's 124 school districts.

The moves come as school property tax levies across Long Island are projected to rise by an average of 2.5% for the coming school year, according to data from the state comptroller's office. In aggregate, Long Island districts are seeking to raise an estimated $10 billion in property taxes for 2026-27, with most pursuing increases equal to their allowable limit under the cap.

Piercing that cap is a different matter entirely. Bob Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association, said no districts on Long Island attempted to exceed their cap for years after the legislature first enacted the levy limit in 2012, and such overrides have remained rare ever since.

Notably, two of the four districts seeking an override, Uniondale and Lynbrook, are proposing levy increases that fall below the regional average, meaning their requests to exceed the cap do not translate to the steepest tax hikes on the Island. District officials across all four communities pointed to the same constellation of pressures: escalating health insurance premiums, higher transportation costs, and binding contractual commitments that leave administrators with limited flexibility to stay within the cap's ceiling.

Not everyone is persuaded by that reasoning. Andrea Vecchio, a regional taxpayer advocate from East Islip who has no relation to Bob Vecchio, argued that rising levies cannot be justified regardless of whether they track inflation. "The enrollments have declined," she said. "There are less kids. It shouldn't cost more."

The broader picture across Long Island shows a range of fiscal postures heading into the budget season. About two dozen districts proposed levy increases below their allowable cap, while five districts, Freeport, Hempstead, Lawrence, Island Park, and Wainscott, announced plans to freeze their levies entirely at current levels for the coming year.

The budget votes for Long Island school districts are scheduled for May, when taxpayers will have the final word on whether the proposed overrides in Shelter Island, Bayport-Blue Point, Uniondale, and Lynbrook clear the supermajority threshold required under state law to make a cap pierce official.