Plans for 2019-20 G.C. school budget unveiled

The Glen Cove City School District Board of Education presented an overview of the district’s budget for the 2019-20 school year during a meeting on Jan. 9. With this being the first of many budget presentations to come, the board used this particular presentation to show meeting attendees their preliminary intentions for next year’s budget.

Victoria Galante, assistant superintendent of business, guided the audience through the presentation, emphasizing that it serves as a general summary of the budget as a whole. More specific aspects of the budget will be presented at future board meetings.

Galante explained that the figures she was presenting are not set in stone, as aspects of the budget are always subject to change. “There are a lot of things that are still unknown, even at the time the board adopts the budget,” she said. “Things are constantly changing.

One of the main cruxes of the presentation was the proposed establishment of a tax levy formula, which is used to calculate the total amount of money that the district must collect in property taxes to meet expenses. The figures within the formula were presented in terms of how they would relate to the 2018-19 school year’s tax levy indicating which aspects of the levy will be decreased from the previous year’s, which will be added to and which will be multiplied, resulting in a total maximum allowable tax levy.

Galante emphasized that, while the budget establishes a tax levy, it does not establish a tax rate — the amount any single property owner will pay in taxes.

Once the tax levy is firmly established, the district must factor in money received in state and federal aid, local revenue and the usage of its reserves. Only then will the district have a set number in terms of what it will be able to spend in the 2019-20 school budget.

According to Galante’s initial presentation, the proposed tax levy will be set at approximately $69.3 million. The proposed budget comes is currently $90.4 million, a $2.2 million increase from the 2018-19 school budget.

Both Galante and Superintendent Dr. Maria Rianna put a great deal of emphasis on the fact that these numbers are initial estimates and that they are subject to change as the school year moves forward. The board must adopt the budget in April, and it will be put up to a vote on May 21.

The 2019-20 school budget’s administrative and capital components will be the subjects of the Board of Education’s next meeting on Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m. at Glen Cove High School.