By Nick Buglione
The budget, which Dillon presented at the last Board of Education meeting before a crowd of about 75 parents, will see a 5.3 percent increase in expenses, from about $120 million last year to $126 million.
"This spending plan represents a no-growth budget," Dillon said. "The budget maintains all existing programs, it maintains class size, and it avoids excising staff."
It was less clear just how much more residents would be paying in taxes. The levy, according to Dillon, could go up anywhere between 7.2 to 8.9 percent, depending on how much state aid East Meadow schools receive.
Under Gov. George Pataki's proposed state budget, the East Meadow School District stands to lose $4 million in aid. Although local officials in the state Legislature have vowed to get more money to the district, Albany has yet to agree on concrete numbers.
The superintendent's proposed budget, which the Board of Education unanimously adopted following the April 10 meeting, assumes that the projected losses in state aid under Pataki's plan will be fully or mostly restored.
"We anticipate some restoration of state aid, as most districts do," said Leon Campo, assistant superintendent for finance and administration. "What we have done here is cover our bases. If we really do better than we think [in getting state aid back], the tax levy might go up only 7.2 percent; if we do poorly, it might go up 8.9 percent."
Even if they don't get back as much of that $4 million as they would like, district officials don't think they will have to cut programs or lay off teachers. "We do not anticipate having to come back to the community and say that we're going to have to modify programs," Campo said, adding that if any changes are necessary, they would be minuscule.
Some parents who attended the budget presentation weren't so sure. "I don't know how much I can trust the state will come across with the aid," said Marcus Colelli, and just how that will impact the district's budget is anybody's guess.
No matter what happens upstate, though, East Meadow residents' taxes will be going up. Over the years, their tax bills have skyrocketed, and some residents say they're finding it harder and harder to make ends meet.
"It seems like every time my mortgage dips, my taxes go up," said Colelli. He says his taxes have doubled since he bought his East Meadow house 16 years ago, and they'll soon probably total $6,000 a year.
"It's very frustrating. It's very difficult," said Pat Brace, PTA president of Bowling Green Elementary School and a lifelong resident. "People think you must have money because you live here, but you can't afford to fix your fence or your roof."
Helen Meittinis, a local civic leader who has lived in the area for over 25 years, said she knows plenty of people who have to work two jobs just to stay in the neighborhood. "People are working two jobs to keep their houses," she said, adding that the result is that parents have less time to participate with their children in school-related events. "It's taking us into a whole different type of community," she said.
East Meadow school tax increases -- which, in fairness, contribute only partially to the neighborhood's overall burden -- have largely to do with rising expenses and shortfalls in state aid over the years. "It is true that the current governor has put more money in education than anybody before, but that amount being put into state aid has not caught up with inflation," Dillon said.
The partnership between the district and the state has "eroded" over the years, he said. In the 1984-85 school year, for example, state aid filled 30 percent of East Meadow's expense budget, while in the coming school year it will account for less than 20 percent.
Representatives from East Meadow schools are to travel to Albany on May 3 to rally with other districts for more state aid. "We need you to communicate to the governor you are displeased over the fact that these cuts cannot be accepted," Dillon said.
So far, though, the 2003-04 budget process has been marked with far less contention than last year's. The screams from parents and students, angry over program cuts and teacher layoffs, that were so prevalent last year were absent from Dillon's April 10 presentation.
Last year, some charged that it was the district's mismanagement of funds that led to the cutbacks, and they pushed for the state comptroller to conduct a comprehensive audit. The results of that audit should be released to the public in a few days.
This year, however, the district has been more open about the budget, holding three community-input hearings before the board adopted the spending plan.
Crunching the numbers
There will two far more in-depth looks at the 2003-04 proposed budget, one on Tuesday, April 29 and another on Tuesday, May 6. Both hearings will be held in the Salisbury Center, 718 The Plain Road, and start at 7:30 p.m.
The community will vote on the budget Tuesday, May 20 between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. at all local elementary schools.
