By Anthony Rifilato and Dana Williams
At its meeting on Aug. 8, the board adopted a resolution to reduce the $82.9 million levy ‹ the amount of money the district needs to raise from homeowners ‹ by $88,000. School officials said that as a result, residents¹ tax bills would be about $ 8 lower than they other-wise would have been.
Each year the board pledges to lower the tax levy, though fulfilling that pledge depends on the amount of state aid the district receives. Shortly before the $105.8 million 2007-08 school budget passed in May, the board announced a 1 percent reduction in the levy, after state representatives clinched $23.6 million in education aid for the district.
This latest decrease comes after district officials discovered that there would be $88,000 in additional tax revenue from the 2006-07 school year, more than they had originally expected. Though the change in homeowners¹ tax bills will be nominal, board members said, it illustrates the board¹s commitment to keeping taxes low.
³As a board, we were very excited to be able to further reduce the tax levy,² said school board President James Scannell. ³We do our best, and I think this reduction is an example of our ongoing commitment to make every effort to reduce taxes whenever possible.²
Though the district had a number of options when it discovered the additional revenue ‹ to fund building repairs or new programs or to set the money aside for future use ‹ board members said that as soon as they learned about the money, they decided that it would be directed toward reducing the levy. ³In any year, it¹s typical to have unplanned expenses and unfulfilled wish lists,² said board member B.A. Schoen. ³But over and over, people have said that they want to keep taxes as low as possible. We made that promise, saying that any additional money we received would be used to reduce the levy.²
Taxes on the average home in Baldwin, currently assessed at $420,000, will be $7.53 lower than the previously projected increase of $28, to $6,752, according to Frank Fiumano, the district¹s assistant superintendent for business. Instead, the average taxes will be $6,744. ³The decrease is a benefit for homeowners, but it¹s a very minimal change,² Fiumano said.
Saving money on their taxes has been a recurring issue for homeowners in Baldwin, who have made clear their frustrations with rising school taxes in the months leading up to the school budget vote each year. The 2007-08 budget passed by nearly 500 votes, but the 2006-2007 budget, which was just under $100 million, passed by only five votes.
³Seven dollars is better than nothing, but there¹s still room for improvement,² said Ed Cohen, a homeowner in Baldwin for 38 years. ³Taxes are an issue, and I think residents who complain about school taxes should show up to the school board meetings ‹ not only during the budget vote time, but throughout the year, to make their voices heard.²
Comments about this story? DWilliams@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 282.
