By JOSEPH KELLARD
"At some point, the site is going to have to be shut down," said LIPA spokesman Bert Cunningham, "and even though that kind of [repowering] work is going on, that doesn't mean that taxes are not going to be paid because the facility is not temporarily producing electricity."
Schools Superintendent Dr. Ed Price confirmed this information before he and the Board of Education proposed the district's $28.1 million budget, which includes a 6.3 percent increase in the tax levy and stays within the average range of the district's annual budget increases. "And that's because we did get a bit more state aid this year," Price said about the tax levy, the amount of money raised through property taxes.
Sen. Dean Skelos and Assemblymen Harvey Weisenberg and Bob Barra secured additional state aid for local districts in the state budget, providing Island Park with $539,552 in new aid.
"What's good about this budget is that it maintains some of the good things, like our state-of-the-art technology program, benchmark testing and data analysis, and updates our textbooks," Price said.
One new program the budget will fund is kindergarten readiness, which prepares the youngest students for life outside their homes. The program was initiated last year and will be retained for the 2006-07 school year. "With this program, you don't have those issues in which the kids are coming in bawling on their first day of school," Price said.
Meanwhile, about 44 percent of Island Park's budget is composed of unfunded state and federal mandates, including No Child Left Behind programs, retirement benefits, state testing, and certain type of transportation.
There are, however, costs in other areas of transportation the district can directly cut, and there is a proposition on the ballot regarding the state's requirement that school districts transport children to public or private schools up to 15 miles from their homes. In the past, Island Park voters increased that requirement to 25 miles in their district. The board reviewed this and found that the district services three schools outside the 15-mile limit. In an effort to try to control costs, the district is seeking to change the limit back to 15 miles.
"Ultimately, the cost service of those three schools this year was $75,000," Price said. "In the future, if the voters say yes to this proposition, that would produce future savings. We can put that money in equity to return to the taxpayers next year."
The district has also settled a case that increased the budget by 1 percent last year. State law required Island Park to place seven disabled children from the Bayview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on Austin Boulevard in BOCES programs or neighboring schools. These children, however, are New York City residents, and the district questioned why it had to provide education for them simply because they were using the rehabilitation center.
"As of now our attorneys are taking care of that issue, and we received a substantial portion of the money from the city for the education of those children," Price said, adding that the money saved from this program will also go into the district's fund balance.
As to the budget's general big-ticket items, such as retirement, health care and special education, Price said of the first, "The cost of the retirement has gone up, but this isn't in our control. The stock market took a big hit, and the retirement systems are going up and up."
Regarding health care, Price said that the district continues to negotiate to get more of the staff to pay a larger percentage of their premiums. But he noted that Island Park employees pay 13 percent by contract, 3 percent above the county average.
As far as special education is concerned, Price said the district makes every effort to put more of the students enrolled in this costly program in mainstream classes in the district. "It's something we do whenever we can," he said.
Another cut in the budget came with the elimination of two elementary teachers, based on lower levels of enrollment at Hegarty School, Price said. He also highlighted the many consortiums Island Park enters with other school districts, including transportation, liability and fire insurance, workers¹ compensation and banking. "We were able to save about $24,000 just this year from these consortiums," he said.
The vote for the budget is at Lincoln Orens Middle School from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday.
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
