Let’s start with a clear message: The Eastville Community Historical Society is an incredibly valuable commodity for Sag Harbor, and its new request to the school district to begin levying a community tax to provide about $75,000 a year for “general use, maintenance and capital improvement financing” is not at all unreasonable. That’s particularly true in the context of the Sag Harbor Whaling & Historical Museum’s existing annual levy, and its recent request to more than double it to $125,000 a year.
But with the new request, it might be time for the school district, and Sag Harbor as a whole, to take a step back and think about this in terms of policy, rather than dealing with such reasonable requests ad hoc. It’s very difficult to say no to such charitable efforts that add so much to the cultural fabric of the village. But that can be dangerous.
School taxes are a hot-button issue to begin with. Funding schools primarily through local property taxes has its drawbacks — and this is a crucial moment when many districts, including Sag Harbor, are beginning to see stresses in the budget. These are not big allocations on top of the school tax bill, but they do increase the burden for an individual taxpayer.
Again, none of this is meant to question the value of the Whaling Museum or the Eastville Community Historical Society, or the Sag Harbor Historical Museum, which also gets tax support. There is a compelling argument to be made that school tax dollars, even a few cents at a time, are well spent in such a manner, within reason. The Whaling Museum, for instance, provides programming for the school district’s children, and the Historical Society plays an enormous role in rounding out education on the local history of the village.
Gently, though, it must be asked: Where does it end? There are many, many worthwhile nonprofit community organizations that have a need for funding, and arguably deserve a share of the pie. How can a decision be made about what is equitable?
Each organization has a fundraising component. Some village institutions are more well-funded than others — some wildly so, either because of philanthropic supporters or well-oiled fundraising machines. Fair or not, it also can be argued that organizations earn the public’s support in that fashion, and it’s the way they should be funded as well.
But there are always exceptions. The Sag Harbor Cinema obtained a somewhat controversial check from the Community Preservation Fund to preserve the facade of the theater — a stretch of the CPF mission, but probably not to a breaking point. And it’s also true that there is not an unlimited amount of charitable support available, so powerhouse fundraisers might well be taking from smaller, volunteer groups that have a smaller footprint but no less value to the community.
So, to be clear, there is a serious case for tax dollars going to these organizations. But perhaps there needs to be another step in the process — or, for that matter, a process beyond the existing one, which is simply to let taxpayers decide on each individual request at the polls. In the end, a small number of voters gets to decide, which seems unfair.
The Eastville Community Historical Society deserves an up or down vote, just like the Whaling Museum — and both can make a compelling case to keep funding in place. But the school district must step forward and take responsibility for a discussion that leads to a better system, one that better allows voters to evaluate such requests from the position of a school district with limited resources, and only so much room on the ballot — and so much taxpayer support — to share.
