Schools
Lindenhurst BOE Finalizes 2013-14 Budget with 1.99% Tax Levy
At the Lindenhurst Board of Education's budget finalization on Wednesday, trustees vote to use $1.1 million in reserves to lower the tax levy to 1.99 percent.
After weeks of budget workshops, the Lindenhurst Board of Education has finalized a 2013-14 budget that features a 1.99 percent tax levy and the removal of 66 aide positions and $1.1 million in reserves.
The Board is set to adopt the budget on April 25 at 7 p.m. at a special meeting at the McKenna Administration Building.* (*This information's been updated to reflect the change, per information shared by the Lindenhurst School District.)
The 1.99 percent tax levy breaks down to an annual school tax increase of $221.14 for the average home assessed at $4,500, according to Superintendent Richard Nathan.
Click here to read about the cuts in aides and other personnel changes and about the change in the special education program.
Click here to read about what was cut from the 2013-14 school budget and what programs were saved.
Tax Levy
At the start of the night on Wednesday, the proposed budget featured a 3.13 percent increase in expenditures, yielding a 3.15 percent tax levy.
By the end of the night, the BOE brought the tax levy not only under the 3.55 percent tax cap the District was allowed by New York State’s tax cap formula, but also under the two percent tax cap originally intended by lawmakers.
This came after much debate among the seven Board members present (President Donna Hochman had a family emergency and Trustee Ray Doran was away on business, according to Vice President Ed Murphy, Jr.).
There weren’t many program or instructional position cuts in the final analysis - a departure from the last several years’ budgets, as the goal of the BOE was two-fold this year:
- To present a budget that kept as much program as possible.
- To keep the tax rate low and stay under the tax cap - especially in light of the unexpected devastation Hurricane Sandy wrought on a large portion of the community living South of Montauk Highway.
The BOE achieved both goals, in the trustees’ estimation. And the majority felt comfortable not only taking $488,982 out of reserves to keep the tax levy low at 2.7 percent, but also comfortable with removing an additional $628,000, for a total of $1.1 million, to bring the tax levy to the final 1.99 percent number that was approved ahead of budget adoption on April 25.*
Board Trustees Val McKenna, Ed Langone and Richard Koehler made the case for using more of the reserves, noting if there were ever a time to do this, then it was now in the aftermath of Sandy. Trustees Patty Ames and Robert Vitiello backed them up, as well.
Only Murphy and Trustee Mary Ellen Cunningham warned against taking so much out of the unappropriated portion of the District’s reserves the Board could use to lower the tax levy.
All told the District has approximately $19 million in the fund balance, but much of that’s untouchable and allocated to various items such as ERS, workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance, according to Nathan and Assistant Superintendent of Business Jackie Scrio.
Of that $19 million only approximately $5.5 million in unappropriated funds are available to use to lower the tax levy.
Voting in favor to take out the $1.1 million brought that number down to roughly $4.4 million - a number that was at about $7.8 million three years ago, Nathan and Murphy noted.
Murphy also said while he was sensitive to what the community’s gone through this year, he reminded trustees this was a one-time fix.
Cunningham wanted to keep the tax levy low, as well, and understood why fellow trustees felt strongly about removing the $1.1 million, noting the rainy day to use these funds had come, but warned this means they’ll have to be even more aggressive with cuts next year.
She even countered with a motion to only remove an additional $530,000, as opposed to $628,000, to get the tax levy at 2.1 percent.
But when it came time to vote the amended motion failed 0-7-0, and the motion to remove $628,000 to bring the tax levy down to 1.99 percent and under the two percent tax cap was approved 6-1-0.
Click here to access the PDF file containing the 2013-14 school budget draft as of April 15, 2013 - just prior to the finalization on April 17 - on the District’s website.
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