By Angela Marshall and Joe Kellard
Jim Pericas did something last Tuesday he never thought he-d do, something he never wanted to do, but, he said, something he had to do. He voted against the Oceanside School District budget.
Pericas understands the value of education, has six grandchildren living in the district and knows the schools probably need the money, but so does he.
The retired mailman and his wife both work part-time jobs to make ends meat. They have seen their taxes grow over the past few years, topping out at more than $7,000 last year. Standing in front of his Cleveland Avenue home in Rockville Centre and stretching his arms wide, he asked, How can you pay another 9 percent?
Pericas- frustration with rising taxes was mirrored in the responses of more than a thousand other voters last Tuesday. By a margin of just 10 votes, the $99,060,745 budget was rejected, 1,028 to 1,018. Dozens of other budgets across Long Island were also voted down.
The defeat came as a shock to school district officials. The board had no inkling that the community was upset or that this was coming, said School Board President Sue Graham. We had little attendance at our budget hearings, which leads us to believe that people are satisfied.
During a meeting Monday night, the school board decided to put the budget, an 8.6 percent increase over this year-s budget of $91,452,771, back on the ballot with no changes. The re-vote will be held on Tuesday, June 15, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Schools 5, 6, 7 and 8. The district will hold a budget hearing at Merle Avenue School, 145 Merle Ave., at 7:30 p.m. on June 7.
If the proposed budget fails a second time, the district would be forced to go to a contingency budget of $97,281,867, a 6.37 percent increase. Although the state requires contingency-budget increases to be capped at 2.76 percent, Oceanside-s 6.4 increase would be permitted because the increase above the cap represents the increases from the initial cost of a bond adopted by voters last year for a capital-improvement project.
Cutting $1.8 million from the budget would mean cutting new equipment, non-essential building maintenance, selected capital items not of an emergency nature, community use of buildings, co-curricular activities, night-school programs, summer school and selected personnel-related items.
More than 1,900 Rockville Centre families like the Pericases live in the Oceanside School District. The Rockville Centre The difference between passing the budget on June 15 and going on a contingency budget what does that mean to the average homeowner? said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Herb Brown. It will cost the average homeowner 26 cents a day.
