N. Bellmore district proposes $50.5M budget

North Bellmore School District voters will decide whether they want to pass the elementary district’s proposed $50.5 million spending plan for the 2013-14 school year, which maintains all academic programs.

The district, which takes in students from North Bellmore and part of North Merrick, will generate about $1.3 million in new revenue in 2013-14, according to officials. However, mandatory spending increases on benefits and special-education programs led to a budgetary shortfall. To fill the spending gaps without drastically increasing the property-tax levy, officials said they could use millions of dollars in reserve funds.

The 2013-14 budget has a proposed increase in the tax levy — the total amount that the district needs to raise through property taxes to meet expenses — of 2.5 percent. While this exceeds the state-mandated 2 percent cap, Assistant Superintendent for Business Mark Schissler explained that the district would not need a 60 percent supermajority vote to pass the budget because, owing to exceptions in the law, the 2.5 percent tax levy falls under the district’s allowable levy.

Superintendent Arnold Goldstein previously said that the plan complies with state regulations, in addition to being frugal. “The current proposal aligns with the tax cap while maintaining the integrity of our instructional program, which has been our ongoing goal,” he said.

To maintain the program and meet the shortfall, Schissler said, the district could use various reserve funds. His spending plan for the next academic year calls for the North Bellmore to use nearly $3 million from $5 million in reserve funds.

North Bellmore voters will cast their ballots on the budget on May 21. They can vote at the polls at Newbridge Road Elementary School from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.