Voters in the Patchogue-Medford School District have failed their budget and a key proposition that would have pierced the state tax cap.

The budget needed 60 percent of voters to approve it, but only got 56.7 percent.

Proposition No. 3 would have required the district to bus private and parochial school students up to 10 miles further than their current service. If it had passed, the tax increase would have gone from 2.86 percent to 3.28 percent.

The proposition was overwhelmingly rejected with only 524 votes in favor.

The district now needs to decide whether to go for a revote next month, or go right to austerity.

Austerity would mean cutting more than $2 million from the budget, and possibly the loss of jobs and programs.

Proposition No. 3 would not be put up to revote.

Patchogue-Medford superintendent Michael Hynes says that he is confident that without the proposition the budget will pass the second time around