Riverhead voters approve school budget, elect full trustee slate
Riverhead’s budget passed 944-841, but 841 no votes signaled deep unease over special education, benefits and charter-school costs.
Riverhead Central School District voters approved a $218.88 million budget Tuesday, but the 944-841 margin showed a community split almost down the middle over how much more the district should spend next year.
The plan increases overall spending by 3.52% and raises the tax levy by 2.91%, keeping Riverhead within the state property-tax cap and avoiding the 60% threshold that would have been required to go beyond it. District officials said the biggest pressure point was special education and special-education transportation, which will add $4,070,412 and account for about 55% of the increase. Employee benefits are projected to rise by $2,160,460, including a jump in retirement costs and another increase in health and dental insurance, while salary growth is limited to $777,664, or 0.89%, because of retirements and staffing changes through attrition.
Charter-school tuition remains another major strain. Riverhead officials projected a $918,013 increase in that line item, with the tuition bill for Riverhead Charter School alone expected to reach about $17.5 million. The district said it does not plan to cut athletics, music, drama or student clubs, but it is adjusting kindergarten staffing and dual-language offerings for next year, including no dual-language kindergarten at Riley Avenue, Roanoke Avenue and Aquebogue, while Phillips Avenue will add kindergarten and continue as a K-4 dual-language program.
The budget was adopted by the Board of Education on April 2 and first presented publicly on March 4, before final state-aid numbers were available. District leaders said the plan was built without those figures because the state budget had not yet been adopted.
Voters also filled the district’s full trustee slate at Riverhead High School. Incumbents Cynthia Redmond and Erica Murphy won second three-year terms, newcomer Jasmine Corwin won the remaining three-year term, and Julio Gonzalez, who had been appointed after Brian Connelly resigned, won a seat of his own.
The election gives Riverhead a stable board heading into another year of rising costs and hard choices. The district said its fiscal 2025 audits were completed and filed on time, the Comptroller audit was filed, and Moody’s kept Riverhead at Aa2, facts that may help officials defend the budget, but the size of the no vote makes clear that many taxpayers are still watching closely.
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