By Anthony Rifilato
The board initially proposed a 5.97 percent increase in the tax levy, the amount of money the school district needs to raise from homeowners. But the projection was lowered last week to 4.98 percent after state representatives netted an additional $23.6 million in state aid for the Baldwin district.
"We're very grateful to our state legislators, who really came through for us," school board President Mary Jo O'Hagan said. "Every year we are waiting until the last second to get firm numbers about what our state aid is going to be. Even though our budget didn't change, it makes all the difference when we get additional state aid, because it lowers the share that homeowners have to pay."
Each year the board pledges to use any state school aid to offset the tax levy, and each year, board members say, the district is put in a precarious position, not knowing exactly how much it will receive. While the proposed budget remains the same, at nearly $105.8 million - a 5.97 percent increase over the current budget of just under $100 million - the reduced levy means that taxes on the average home in Baldwin, currently assessed at $420,000, will increase $28, to $6,752, according to Frank Fiumano, the district's assistant superintendent for business and administrative services. Assessed values vary from home to home, however, so individual homeowners may experience larger or smaller increases in their taxes.
All that, of course, depends on whether the budget is approved by voters on Tuesday. Last year, the current budget passed by just five votes, with 1,188 residents voting yes and 1,183 voting no. O'Hagan said she hopes the additional state aid and the smaller levy increase will encourage residents who are thinking about voting against the budget to keep an open mind.
"I hope it will encourage people to believe that there are solutions out there to high taxes, and that lies in increasing our revenue from state aid," O'Hagan said. "Our lack of a commercial tax base and the structure in which we are funded hurts Baldwin."
O'Hagan attributed many of the budgetary increases to federal and state mandates ranging from Social Security and retirement costs to contracted salaries and special-education requirements. And while many residents may be upset by increases in spending, O'Hagan and other board members say they are spending conservatively.
"We are maintaining the programs we already have in place," she said. "We had in our budget a whole list of things that we rejected, such as requests from principals for additional furniture, fine-arts requests for instruments, additional staff to offer more A.P. courses and interscholastic teams. We just can't accommodate that at this point."
Still, O'Hagan said, the proposed budget maintains the numerous programs and services students now have access to, and the board - as well as students and school staff - is working harder to make sure the budget passes this year. Last year, in the wake of the almost evenly split vote, the board commissioned the Baldwin Education Assembly to conduct a survey of district voting patterns. The study showed that only 4 percent of voters age 35 or younger actually voted, and that the majority of voters were over 45. Sixty-one percent of voters over age 60 voted against the budget, while 60 percent of those between ages 46 and 60 supported it.
The study also showed that the majority of people who voted against the budget cited high school and property taxes as a main reason. The report said that the district needed to more effectively communicate budget information to the community in order to reach younger voters and to demonstrate to seniors that money is not being wasted.
School officials said they have been reaching out to the community, through budget talks and meetings with community and civic groups, in order to better explain the budget process and how residents benefit, directly or indirectly. For example, the board held several budget discussions with residents last week. "We are looking to counter the misconceptions that exist," O'Hagan said. "We need to better explain some of the ways we spend the money and how we economize."
If the budget is defeated, the school board could offer it again, unchanged, for another vote, reduce it before a revote or adopt a contingency budget, which would cap spending and force the board to consider cutting programs not mandated by state law. "I don't think people realize the effects that a contingency budget would have," said Ed Ramirez, the athletic director at Baldwin High School. "It takes years to recover from it. If you take programs away, the development of those programs are hurt. Students are hurt; they miss out. Unfortunately, when you take away athletics, kids start doing something else."
Baldwin High students were doing their part last week in the hope that that wouldn't happen, wearing T-shirts and handing out fliers that read "Save our Schools." At the May 5 Little League opening ceremonies, the Baldwin Boosters Club urged residents to vote yes.
"Athletics is usually the first thing to go," Ramirez said. "I think with the budget barely passing last year, it is now something that's dear to [students] because it's something that might not be there for them. We're urging everyone to get out and vote yes."
Comments about this story? Baldwineditor@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 207.
