By Laura Lane
If voters approve the spending plan in May, the tax increase for the average Merrick home will be about $191 next year, which is based on an average home value of $566,800.
The new budget includes three additional academic intervention services math teachers and funds for new math textbooks for fifth- and sixth-graders to supplement the new math curriculum. Also, a foreign language program is being piloted for the sixth grade. A $50,000 grant from state Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. will offset the cost of the foreign-language program. No programming from prior years was cut.
Taxpayers will get the chance to decide whether to accept the proposed spending plan when a budget vote is held on Tuesday, May 16.
Trustee Lou Kruh asked that the public vote for the budget. "The high quality of the Merrick Public Schools plays a major role in maintaining the value of our homes and the attractiveness of our community," said Kruh. "This is especially true to young families looking for a new home."
In other news....
Butch Yamali, representing the Merrick-North Merrick Little League, received approval from trustees to improve the playing fields at Levy-Lakeside and Chatterton elementary schools. Yamali said the Little League decided to close the field at Levy-Lakeside for a month to redo the front of the field, clean up the outfield grass and update the sprinklers to solve a flooding problem. The Little League is leveling the field at Chatterton, as well.
Little League will bear the costs of all improvements to the fields.
