New Hyde Park-Garden City Park School District administrators presented a $35.35 million 2013-14 district preliminary budget at Monday night’s school board meeting, representing a 2.49 percent increase of $860,345 over the current budget of $34.39 million.
“It’s our lowest year-to-year increase ever,” Michael Frank, the assistant superintendent of business for New Hyde Park-Garden City Park, told parents and students attending the presentation at the New Hyde Park Road School auditorium.
The 2013-14 district tax levy is projected to be $29 million, a 3.2 percent increase over the current tax levy of $28.15 million, Frank said. That, he said, would be in line with the complex state-mandated tax cap formula.
The elementary school district will maintain all existing programs, including the Odyssey program for gifted students, math enrichment, full-day kindergarten, intervention programs in reading and math, New Hyde Park-Garden City Park Superintendent of Schools Robert Katulak said. He said the one exception is a cut back in science labs for students in grades one though three, with the weekly labs still to be offered in grades four through six.
“We have kept every program you wanted to keep, but one-half of one program,” Katulak said.
Figuring in offsetting factors such as anticipated retirements, Frank said district salaries would rise by .06 percent to $18.3 million. But as in all school districts, pension and health benefits are another matter.
“Clearly there’s one factor that’s driving this budget,” Frank said.
Frank said the district’s contributory rate for the Teachers Retirement System will rise 37.25 percent in 2013-14 and the Employee Retirement System will increase 10.6 percent. He said health coverage rates for all district employees will rise by 14 percent mid-year during the 2013-14 school year.
The cost of benefits will rise year-to-year by 2.96 percent to $10 million, with salaries and benefits rising 3.02 percent to $28.36 million, Frank said.
He said BOCES costs will rise 16 percent year-to-year by $184,795 to $1.33 million because of increased special education and technology expenses.
State aid for the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park district is projected to be $4,087,581, an increase of $69,511 over what the district received last year. But Frank said final figures on state aid would await passage of the state budget expected on April 1.
Frank said cost reductions in several areas will help to hold district budget costs down for 2013-14.
Refinancing the school district’s debt last year reduced year-to-year debt service costs by 2.47 percent, or $57,060, to $2.25 million. Savings of $100,000 will be realized from converting boilers in district schools from oil to gas. The cost of $11 per students for field trips districtwide was removed with the district buying a 60-passenger bus that would used for trips. And, Frank said, money will be saved by the elimination of science lab time for students in grades one through three.
“We did everything we can to keep the budget reasonable,” Frank said.
He said proposed 2013-14 tax levy for the elementary school district would push the average tax bill to $3,032.31 from $2,938.12 in the current year based on an average assessed valuation of $993.11. Frank said his tax bill does not include the taxes that residents of the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park district pay to the Sewanhaka Central High School District.
The Sewanhaka district comprises five high schools, including New Hyde Park Memorial High School. The New Hyde Park-Garden City Park district is one of five “satellite” elementary school districts with ties to Sewanhaka.
