All five local school districts –– including the Bellmore-Merrick Central, and Bellmore, Merrick, North Bellmore and North Merrick elementary districts –– had part of their state allotments for December held back after Gov. David Paterson ordered the payments halted so the state could stay solvent.

Officials from all of the districts said they would be able to maintain services without December's reduced aid payments, which amounted to several thousand dollars each, but expressed concerns that STAR rebate payments might be withheld in January, which could lead to cash-flow troubles.

For now, state officials say the aid payments are being held until New York is back in the black. Locally, however, school officials are skeptical. They worry that the reductions will become permanent.

Matt Anderson, a spokesman for the New York State Budget Office, said the state has experienced “an unprecedented drop in revenue beyond anything seen in recent history,” which is why Paterson decided to withhold scheduled payments. If the state government had paid all its expenses in December, Anderson said, the state's general fund would be more than $1 billion in the red for the first time in state history.

“The governor said he won’t let the state run out of cash on his watch,” Anderson said. He added that a district-by-district breakdown of the $436 million set to be withheld from STAR payments across the state was not available at press time.

"As of this week, we did not get our check for state aid," Merrick School District Board of Education Trustee Gina Piskin announced at a Dec. 15 public meeting. The Merrick School District was scheduled to receive $143, 731, but instead received $129,358, according to a state report.

"Thank God we are the kind of district that can absorb that without feeling any immediate effects," Superintendent Dr. Ranier Melucci said.