By JUDY RATTNER
At its public work session on July 26, the Rockville Centre Board of Education formally adopted, by resolution, the voter-approved 2007-08 tax levy.
However, trustees adopted the $69.4 million levy with the knowledge that the district¹s transportation budget has already seen an unanticipated $200,000 increase in expenses because the district had to renegotiate its main transportation contract with the Atlantic Express bus company. Atlantic Express provides the large buses that transport students to and from the district¹s five elementary schools, middle school and high school as well as St. Agnes Cathedral Elementary School, Chaminade, Kellenberg, Holy Trinity and Sacred Heart.
At the work session, board members discussed at length whether to raise the tax levy ‹ which they are permitted to do under New York state law ‹ or to appropriate $200,000 from the Applied General Fund balance of $2.8 million, which the district uses to offset the school tax rate, to cover the projected cost overrun.
According to school board secretary Mark Masin, the district planned to renew the bus company contract with its usual Consumer Price Index increase of 2 to 2 1/2 percent, as it has for the past 20 years or so. Masin explained that Atlantic Express declined, notifying the district ‹ after the school budget had already been adopted by voters in May ‹ that the contract would need to be renegotiated.
So in June, the district sent out requests to 16 bus companies to bid on transportation services for the coming year. Only two companies responded. The board had hoped to combine bus service with the Baldwin and Oceanside school districts in an effort to keep costs down, but Baldwin declined. And neither bus company that responded agreed to offer service to Rockville Centre and Oceanside as a package deal, insisting instead to negotiate separately with the two districts. Rockville Centre¹s lowest bid ‹ from Atlantic Express ‹ was approximately $200,000 higher than what had been allocated in the budget.
³It would have been much easier to deal with this increase if we had known about it in February,² said school board President Lorrie Brady, ³but we wanted to keep the tax levy to the figure that we had indicated to the voters when they voted on it in May. We always run tight, but we will try to run tighter this year to see if we can¹t make up the shortfall in transportation in the budget from other areas. Any gap will have to be dealt with during next year¹s budget process because it would ultimately affect the tax rate in the following year.²
Carolyn Daly, a spokeswoman for the bus company, said, ³As we have for over 20 years, Atlantic Express is committed to providing safe and reliable transportation for the schoolchildren of Rockville Centre. The reality of today¹s double-digit increases in fuel, labor and insurance costs against a very low annual CPI increase required us to renegotiate our contract through the public bidding process. We believe the process was fair for everyone, and we are grateful our bid was accepted as the lowest. We look forward to continuing our work with the Rockville Centre school district for years to come.²
The district¹s assistant superintendent for business, Robert Bartels, said it has a number of ³contingency buses² in its budget that are used for unexpected routes to private or parochial schools. If those buses are not needed, that could partially offset the additional $200,000 expense. But, Bartels said, the full extent of the budgetary impact will probably not be known until September at the earliest.
The administration and the school board will now look for ways to economize or for additional revenue sources to offset the unanticipated expense. If they are unable to cover the projected shortfall, trustees said, it will have a negative impact on next year¹s budget. One option board members said they would explore is to follow in the footsteps of the Long Beach school district by applying for a federal grant to purchase environmentally friendly buses, which would enable Rockville Centre to provide its own transportation.
Comments about this story? RVCeditor@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 208.
