Locust Valley Budget Update

At the Jan. 17 Locust Valley Central School District Board of Education meeting, the 2024-2024 preliminary tax levy was announced.
The tax levy is approximately $86 million, a 1.95 percent increase from the current year.
Within the past five years, the district has yet to levy the maximum amount.
“This was done, because the Board of Education, and the school district, are keenly aware of the effects of tax increases on our community,” said School Business Administrator Karen Horoszewski during the Feb. 15 Board of Education meeting.
Among the challenges facing Locust Valley as they prepare next school year’s budget are the New York State Aid calculations, retirement systems, medical insurance premiums, consumer price index and property growth factor used in the tax cap calculations, mandates resulting from Committees on Special Education, student enrollment numbers and staff retirements.
It was also announced that the district could lose approximately $800,000 in Foundation Aid amid Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed state budget.
“It’s not a final number,” said Assistant Superintendent for Business Affairs and Human Resources Toni Meliambro during the Jan. 17 Board of Education meeting. “We don’t have the final State Aid number until April 1 at the time that they pass the budget. It’s very possible this will be questioned or challenged. There are many districts in Suffolk County that took much more substantial hits, so there may be a lot of requests for the governor to take another look at how this is done.”
The next budget meeting will occur on March 20 at the Locust Valley Middle School/High School auditorium at 7:30 p.m., where attendees can compare Locust Valley’s tax cap with neighboring districts, as the tax cap calculation was due March 1.
The budget will be adopted on April 18, when the Property Tax Report Card is due on April 16. There will be a budget hearing on May 2 and the budget vote and election will occur on May 21.
To learn more about the 2024-2025 budget, visit locustvalleyschools.org/documents/board-of-education/budget-information/364630.