By Mike Russo
But with a Metropolitan Transportation Authority payroll tax looming, a proposed 15 percent shift of pre-school special education costs from Nassau County to local school districts and federal stimulus aid likely not available for use until 2010-11, school district officials say they are not out of the woods yet.
Though they planned to adopt the proposed spending plan on Wednesday, officials said that there was still time to modify it, and that they intend to make several changes before it is voted on in May. An estimate of the tax levy was not available at press time, though district officials said they anticipated that it would be under 4 percent.
Many parts of the budget are unchanged or are relatively close to figures in the current plan. While many programs were not expanded, officials said they were satisfied that they were not forced to do much cutting. "One of the goals was to keep as many [areas] flat as possible," said Frank Fiumano, assistant superintendent for business and administrative services. "There is no reduction of staff in this budget."
The district allocated $38.94 million for teacher salaries, an increase of 2.2 percent over the current year. Officials explained that the salary increases are consistent with contractual obligations. Further, health insurance costs were kept much lower than anticipated, actually decreasing nearly a quarter of a percentage point. At the urging of county officials last October, the New York State Health Insurance Program, which provides coverage to school district employees, agreed to raise premiums by only 1.2 percent instead of an anticipated 7.9 percent.
Fiumano said that the lower rates have helped tremendously, though adding that he believed the relief would be short-lived, because he expects rates to increase next year. "These are the areas that have enabled us to keep the budget low," he said. "We're seeing a tremendous savings in next year's budget because of this."
At the March 18 Board of Education meeting, during which district officials gave a PowerPoint presentation detailing the program portion of the budget, residents and administrators discussed the necessity of textbooks in a time when much of the material is available online. Residents noted that the cost of textbooks totaled over $323,000 district-wide, not including a separate — but not mandatory —proposed purchase of science textbooks and course materials for third-, fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms totaling nearly $123,000.
A few residents said that much, if not all, of the material in textbooks is available online, and wondered why they would need to purchase textbooks. One resident asked if the district could offer a voluntary textbook purchasing program, in which students would purchase either a textbook or access to online information.
District officials said that some students do not have access to computers, and that some who do have had problems accessing the material. Though all-Internet information is a nice idea in theory, Fiumano said, the process isn’t so simple.
'An awful lot that's
up in the air'
Tax shifts and pending money transfers, while not yet reflected in the budget proposal, could have a significant impact. Officials expressed concerns about the proposed MTA payroll tax, called a “mobility tax,” which would add up to $308,000 to district expenses, and a county plan to shift 15 percent of the cost of pre-special education to individual school districts. Those two items, officials said, could potentially add a burden of a half-million dollars to the school district.
Fiumano stressed that even if the two tax shifts were implemented, the district would absorb that cost, either in the current year or next year's budget. He said that the district would probably have to reduce its expenses next year to absorb the additional costs, but did not anticipate cutting any programs as a result. Said Fiumano, "It's a burden shift."
Thus far, the district has not funded special education for preschool students, because it doesn't offer such a program. The county has always picked up the cost, officials said, but a county proposal to transfer 15 percent of the cost to local school districts would change that. Officials estimated the potential cost at around $300,000.
Because the proposal would need approval by the county Legislature, district officials said they are not sure whether the cost would be absorbed in the 2009-10 budget before or after it is voted on. If it is the latter, they said, the district would not run a budget deficit, but the use of reserve funds is a possibility.
Superintendent Dr. James Mapes said that without knowing for sure whether the district will have to make changes in the budget, he and the rest of the school board have to do the best they can with the information at hand. “We don’t have an answer,” said Mapes. “We don’t know if [the tax shifts] are coming yet. We must go about our business as it is right now.”
Board President Mary Jo O’Hagan, who described the looming tax shifts as items that were “haunting” the board, expressed similar concerns. “There’s an awful lot that’s up in the air about how next year’s budget is going to look,” O’Hagan said. “We’re looking at the potential for half a million dollars that will have to be passed off on taxpayers, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
The next meeting of the board is scheduled for April 22 at 8 p.m. at the Milburn School.
Comments about this story? MRusso@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 283.
