The Carle Place School District presented the districtwide expense portion of its $58,689,234 proposed financial plan Thursday night.
Superintendent Ted Cannone said the district was not yet in a position to publicly announce its definite tax levy increase, or the tax increase district residents will pay to fund a portion of the budget.
In the district’s first budget presentation on Feb. 6, however, the board projected a 2.37% tax levy increase, which they said would generate $47,960,443 in property taxes, the exact amount that the district had estimated as this year’s tax cap.
The board projected the remaining portion of the budget will be funded by $363,486 of the district’s reserves and $10,365,305 of non-tax revenue, which includes state and federal aid, PILOT payments, and other funds.
Budget categories presented under the districtwide expense presentation Thursday included transportation, up 15.64% from last year; BOCES, up 11.32%; general districtwide expenses, up 8.34%; facilities, up 3.23%; employee benefits, up .0.25%; and debt service, up 0.04%, said Joanna DeMartino, the district’s assistant superintendent for business.
Roughly a dozen people made public comments at the meeting. Their concerns included feeling like employee benefits were too high, class sizes were too large, and the district not being transparent enough with its expenses.
DeMartino said all budget information, including line-by-line cost breakdowns and last year’s budget, could be found on the district’s website.
The increase to BOCES, or Board of Cooperative Educational Services, expenses were primarily driven by spending on instruction and student services for both general and special education, instructional technology, and school library technology.
DeMartino said purchasing these goods and services through BOCES allows the smaller district to simplify the procurement process and minimizes costs by taking advantage of economies of scale.
Notable facilities increases include the purchase of three wet/dry vacuums and two floor scrubbers, replacement of old water fountains with bottle fillers to help the district meet required lead compliance testing benchmarks, and ventilator filters.
Special facilities projects in the budget include playground upgrades, library heating, and boys bathroom retiling at Cherry Lane, new library carpet, manway cover repairs, and auditorium painting at Rushmore Avenue, and sidewalk repairs, partial driveway repavement, and replacement of broken locksets at the conjoined middle-high school.
DeMartino emphasized that these renovations and upgrades were absolutely necessary, pointing out that some of the facilities slated for improvement were falling apart or had caused student injury.
Upcoming future budget presentations include March 6, when the board will present the arts portion of the budget; March 20, when the instructional programs and staffing portion of the budget will be explained, and April 3, when the board plans to vote to adopt the budget which will be on the ballot.
The budget election will be held May 20, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the multipurpose room of Carle Place High School.
