Lynbrook BOE adopts budget

At its March 21 meeting, the Lynbrook School District Board of Education adopted a 2012-13 budget of $74.47 million, 2.16 percent larger than the current spending plan.

The district’s tax levy — the total amount raise by property tax — would increase by 2.34 percent, which falls under the maximum increase of 2.36 percent allowed by the state’s new tax levy cap.

The board also voted unanimously in favor of a capital reserve project that, if approved by voters, would use up to $5.55 million of the district’s $6.9 million in reserves. According to Superintendent Dr. Santo Barbarino, the project would include the installation of an artificial-turf field at the Marion Street School and the construction of new music rooms, a technology storage room, an elevator and exterior bathrooms at North Middle School. Anticipating damage to the field at North due to the upcoming construction, the board is planning for it to be resodded, at an estimated cost of $200,000.

The project would also relocate the South Middle School baseball field from Marion Street onto the South property, and would add netting around the oval field so the lacrosse teams could practice there. The discus area would be relocated from the oval field to an area outside the baseball field.

Barbarino’s original proposal to the board included the installation of two artificial-turf fields — the second at North — and totaled $6.17 million. It did not account for resodding North’s field or relocating the discus area at South.

Last year, the board approved a proposition to build a state-of-the-art athletic complex at South using $4.6 million of district reserves, but residents voted it down.

In 2012-13, Lynbrook will receive a little more than $7 million in state aid, $6,166 less than this year. State aid accounts for 9.54 percent of the proposed budget, down from 12.9 percent in 2008-09.

Two of the seven board trustees, Alicemarie Bresnihan and William Belmont, were in favor of adding artificial-turf fields at both Marion and North. “I believe the time has come for us to move ahead,” Bresnihan said. “Last year we found that was too extravagant — the project that we proposed. This year it’s much more modest, but it does improve our facilities.”