The North Shore School District unveiled its $125 million proposed budget for the upcoming year, a roughly 2.4 percent increase from the prior year with increasing costs stemming from employee benefits, rising salaries as well as the implementation of a new curriculum. But nearly a dozen residents spoke during the public comment portion of the evening focused on a different matter: the soon-to-expire moratorium on the building of battery energy storage systems in the town of Oyster Bay.
District Superintendent Chris Zublionis opened his presentation drawing an allusion between the district’s budgetary future and a foggy morning. “If you’ve ever driven across the viaduct on a foggy day, even though we’ve been over it thousands of times, it’s scary because you can only see ten feet in front of you,” Zublionis said. “There is so much unknown, but the unknown becomes clearer as you advance,”
A major contributor to the unknown described by Zublionis is the future of district revenues. Zublionis explained that while district revenues are stable for now, the district could face a more than $8 million revenue loss due to tax changes from the 2022 settlement between the county and the LIPA Glenwood Landing in the 2027-2028 school year.
The loss of revenue due to the LIPA settlement has had a significant impact on the district and its taxpayers. Homeowners in the district were paying about 55 percent of the share of taxes 25 years ago, that number today is up to more than 80 percent of the district’s tax class share. School tax bills could vary based on the increase of a home’s value each year, according to Zublionis.
“We have limited clarity, we know what we are facing next year and likely the year after. Zublionis said. “It’s the year after that where there’s a lot of unknown.”
Despite the limited clarity on the future, Zublionis pointed to stability in numerous areas for the coming year including enrollment, the number of sections offered to students, programs, staffing, tax base, tax share, revenue loss, mandated costs and inflation.
Zublionis and Assistant Superintendent for Business James Pappas introduced a proposed tax levy of roughly 2.9 percent for the next year, which hovers below the peak 3.195 percent allowable tax levy the district can impose.
Employee benefits, rising salaries, new curriculum implementations, various special education services, increases to security, as well as costs of supplies and contracts, and contracted transportation for special education, accounted for roughly 77 percent of the budget increase according to Zublionis.
“I thought the presentation was extremely thoughtful and well-developed,” Lisa Colacioppo, the vice president of the District Board of Education said in a statement. Colacioppo added that she believed that Zublionis and Pappas presented a budget that “meticulously takes into consideration how to preserve our world-class education while keeping the tax levy as low as possible,”
The next few weeks will feature a lot of fluidity as the budget is tweaked and finalized. The district will host “What Makes Us, Us” sessions with parents and administrators throughout March, concluding on April 2 with a community meeting at the North Shore Middle School Library at 7 p.m.
The board will also host a budget review session on March 13 and will vote to adopt the budget on April 22 and then it will be put up to a vote to the public on May 20.
Following the presentation, numerous residents in the district advocated for the board to support an extension on the moratorium on battery energy storage systems during public comment. The moratorium was originally enacted in February 2024 by the Town of Oyster Bay Town Board after town officials and numerous residents expressed ongoing concerns over safety standards and transparency.
The moratorium was extended for an additional six months last October by the town board, it is set to expire in April.
During the public comment, numerous residents raised their fear of the fire risks associated with lithium-ion battery storage systems, pointing out examples such as the Moss Landing energy storage facility fire that happened at the beginning of the year.
“We as a community cannot let this horror happen to our kids, families, friends, environment or sole source aquifers” Chris Panzca, a Glen Head resident said. “These batteries are toxic noxious ticking time bombs and don’t belong anywhere near residential communities,”
The proposed Oyster Shore Energy Project by Jupiter Power, a 275-megawatt battery energy storage system, at the site of the current Global Energy facility on the corner of Glenwood Road and Shore Road has drawn substantial pushback from Glenwood Landing and Glen Head residents; who expressed serious concerns about safety, environmental impact, and the project’s proximity to homes, schools, and Hempstead Harbor.
“The district has been concerned about the proposed battery storage plant and we have been monitoring it carefully,” Colacioppo said. “The board values public comments and is always eager to learn new information from the community,”
Volunteers from the Glen Head Volunteer Fire Department also raised concerns about the ability of the town’s volunteer fire fighting force to manage potential emergencies that could arise.
“In the event of an emergency, the amount of labor and resources needed is beyond what we currently have,” said Tom McGillicuddy, first assistant chief for the Glen Head Volunteer Fire Department. “We just don’t have the resources for people to do this,”
McGillicuddy referred to other fire departments in the state that have struggled to fight fires from battery energy storage systems in Warwick, East Hampton, and Lyme.
Zublionis said that he was surprised by the number of residents who came out to voice their concerns over the moratorium, but he expressed that he was glad to hear the concerns and added that he appreciated the communal feedback.
In a situation like this, Zublionis explained that school boards don’t have any zoning or permitting authority, all that the board could do is advocate on behalf of their interests. In a district-wide communication sent out Monday, Zublionis announced that the district will submit a comment to the town urging them to extend the moratorium on the project.
