Herricks’ third budget meeting provided the community with an answer on the district’s proposed tax levy increase.
Lisa Rutkoske, the district’s assistant superintendent for business, said Herricks projects a 2% tax levy increase to fund the proposed $144,543,210 budget. That increase is the same percentage that the district’s budget is projected to increase from the current year’s $141,710,364 budget. The levy increase does not pierce the district’s tax cap, which sits at 2.5% this year, Ruthkoske said.
Taxes from the levy would fund 77% of the district’s proposed budget, over 70% of which would support the district’s instructional programs. Some 16.5% of the proposed budget would support the district’s capital projects, and the remaining 12.5% would support administrative expenses.
According to a calculation by Schneps Media LI, Herricks spends $32,766.77 per student, one of the lowest amounts per pupil across school districts in Nassau County.
The remaining 23% of the proposed budget not funded by taxes is projected to be financed by roughly $27.9 million in state aid, which would account for about 20% of the financial plan, Rutkoske added. She said the remaining 3% of the proposed budget would be funded by a combination of other sources, including the district’s appropriated fund balance and PILOTs, or payments in lieu of taxes.
A parent of a middle-school baseball student-athlete used the period of time dedicated to public comments to advocate for greater representation of athletics in the district and for the turfing and general improvement of Herricks’ baseball field to be included in the school’s budget, which she said was in embarrassing condition that, in some cases, bordered on unsafe.
The board said it heard her concerns and committed to looking into the specific portion of her complaint regarding safety on the field. Members emphasized that a reconditioning of the field was already included in the proposed budget but said they were unable to do anything else for the field at this point. They also recounted a period of long debate and conversation about turfing the field that took place in 2016, which ultimately resulted in community members deciding the field should not be turfed to preserve the authenticity of the game.
Juleigh Chin, the school board’s president, stressed that the district didn’t have as deep pockets as other nearby districts because its tax base was almost entirely residential. In contrast, other districts can rely on taxes from commercial entities to help support their budget, she said.
“If it were up to us, we would fund everything,” Chin said.
Notable items included in the budget proposal include the addition of a high school teacher for financial literacy classes, new American history textbooks, a district-wide behavioral specialist, and instructional technology, and the purchase of three new buses, according to Superintendent Tony Sinanis.
He and Ruthkoske also reviewed Proposition Two on the district’s May 20 ballot, which asks voters to approve the transfer of roughly $2.1 million from the district’s capital reserve to purchase new boilers for the community center and high school. The proposition would appear below the budget vote on the ballot. Residents can vote in the Herricks Community Center on Election Day between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.
The board ended the meeting by approving and celebrating the appointment of three new teachers and staff members: Kru Patel, the new director of athletics, who formerly worked for Elmont High School in the Sewanhaka district; Donna Kim, as the districtwide director of world language, English as a second language who comes to the district from the Department of Education, and language immersion; and John Pardue, the assistant secondary principal at the district’s high school, who is the former assistant principal at Oyster Bay High School.
“I’m thrilled to welcome the three newest members of our team to our community,” Sinanis said, a sentiment echoed by Chin, who added, “Welcome to our family.”
