North Bellmore schools receive more state aid

Because the North Bellmore School District received more state aid than officials anticipated, they will not have to dig into reserve funds as much as they planned to in the first draft of the 2015-16 spending plan.

The North Bellmore district takes in students from North Bellmore and part of North Merrick. Administrators and Board of Education trustees revealed the draft of a $53.3 million spending plan to the community at workshops on March 3 and 31 — the latter just after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an agreement on the 2015-16 state budget.

The state’s spending plan eliminates 60 percent of the gap elimination adjustment, the much-maligned cut in school aid that was enacted in 2010 and that Republicans in Albany have been trying to restore ever since. Mark Schissler, North Bellmore’s assistant superintendent for business, explained that the district will receive $12.63 million in state aid — $350,000 more than anticipated, and 5.6 percent more than was budgeted this year. As a result, the latest draft calls for the use of $1.04 million in reserves instead of $1.39 million.

“It really doesn’t change much, except for the fact that we won’t have to use as many reserves as we anticipated,” Schissler said. Approximately $2.48 million remains in the district’s reserve fund.

Schissler noted that the tax levy — the total amount the district must raise in property taxes to meet expenses — is projected to increase by 1.75 percent. The maximum allowable tax levy increase for the district in 2015-16, in accordance with the state’s tax-cap law, is 1.77 percent.

“A lot of my colleagues in other districts … some are a little higher and some are a little lower,” he said. “We’re certainly right in the middle with our tax rate increase.”

In addition to the increase in state aid, Schissler explained, the district also generated savings in the employee benefits section of the budget draft. In recent years, districts across the state have had to incorporate large, state-mandated growth of teacher and employee benefit systems, he said. But this year, rates have gone down.