Thursday, October 1, 2026
Voters in the Locust Valley Central School District approved the district’s proposed 2026-27 budget in a revote on Tuesday, reversing last month’s rejection and avoiding nearly $1.9 million in potential cuts under a contingency spending plan.
District Clerk Allison Dunn announced the results at a Board of Education meeting Tuesday night at Anne MacArthur Primary School.
The spending plan, totaling just under $100 million — a reduction of just over $250,000 from the initial budget — passed by a count of 1,407 to 874. It includes a tax levy increase of nearly 1.8 percent, down from roughly 2.1 percent in the initial proposal. Both levy increases were under the maximum allowed by New York state.
After the vote, board Trustee Lindsay Fox expressed her appreciation to district staff. “I just wanted to say a quick thank-you to everybody who put so much time into this revote,” Fox said. “It was a lot of time, and I’m very grateful for everything you guys did to help us get to this place.”
“I’d like to echo that, too,” board President George Vasiliou said, “and say thank you to everyone in the community who got out to vote this evening, and to show their commitment to our schools and to our children, and show a commitment to our faculty, our administration, that our district supports these buildings, and the work that we’re doing in these buildings every single day.”
In Bayville, the spending plan received 744 yes votes and 553 no votes. In Locust Valley, voters approved it, 603 to 273, while Brookville voters supported it as well, by a margin of 60 to 48.
The vote came one month after residents rejected the district’s original budget proposal of $100.25 million by a vote of 850 to 765.
Under state law, the district was required either to hold a second budget vote by June 16 or adopt a contingency budget by July 1. Officials had warned that a second defeat would mean a spending plan with no tax levy increase. Superintendent Kristen Turnow previously said that scenario would require roughly $1.89 million in reductions.
Among the areas potentially affected were extracurricular activities, athletic programs, transportation services, continuing- education courses, summer recreation programs, summer academic support programs and equipment purchases.
Following Tuesday’s vote, Dunn read the district’s official certificate of declaration, certifying the results on behalf of the Board of Education. The certificate stated that board members had reviewed and approved vote totals from the Bayville, Brookville and Locust Valley election districts and declared that Proposition One had been accepted.
After the results were certified, board members unanimously voted to accept the outcome.
Vasilou credited district staff, teachers and parent organizations for helping encourage voter participation, and said that district officials would continue reviewing spending and seeking community input.
“We are going to be looking and continuing to look, as we have done for every one of the years that I have been on this board,” Vasiliou continued. “Our business officials go through this budget line by line by line every single year.”
He encouraged residents to remain involved in future budget discussions. “We encourage people to come out,” Vasiliou emphasized. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: If you … have an idea of what’s wrong, come out, say it, share that information, but be prepared to listen to our administration when they explain why something is possible, not possible, or perhaps we need to alter the idea slightly.”
