With a proposed budget increase of more than $1 million, the East Williston school district is set to continue growing its academic programs and upgrading its facilities, administrators said Thursday.
“The words that caught my attention were expand, expand, expand, and I think that’s a commitment that we made to this community,” school board President Mark Kamberg said during the first of five district budget presentations.
The proposed $57.7 million 2016-17 budget is 1.83 percent larger than this year’s, and the $53.3 million tax levy shows a 0.35-percent year-to-year increase.
Those hikes were below the district’s allowable increase limit of 2.34 percent for the overall budget and 0.89 percent for the tax levy, Assistant Superintendent for Business Jacqueline Pirro said.
East Williston’s non-tax revenue is set for a 28-percent increase, from $2,997,414 to $3,847,206.
The bulk of that is state aid, Pirro said. The district got an increase in state aid this year and was also able to apply state money it received last year but didn’t budget.
“We’re recognizing, really, two years of anticipated increases in the state aid model, which is very beneficial in keeping a low tax levy and being able to support our programs,” Pirro said.
Driving expenses are a 4.08-percent increase for salaries and benefits and a 5.86 percent increase in health insurance costs.
The district is hiring three new full-time teachers — two at the North Side School and one at the Wheatley School — and two teaching assistants, Superintendent Elaine Kanas said.
The budget aims to continue building and creating curricular initiatives in district schools, administrators said.
It will support the third year Project Lead the Way, an engineering curriculum; the district’s literacy programs; a new Advanced Placement capstone research course for high school seniors; and the expansion of technology use, Kanas said.
In addition to voting on the budget May 17, district voters will decide whether to spend $2 million of $3.5 million put in a capital reserve fund last year.
The money would pay for new windows at the North Side School, new doors at the Willets Road School, new handicap-accessible bathrooms and floors at the Wheatley School, and new kitchen ventilation systems at Willets Road and Wheatley, Pirro said.
Voters may also consider whether to establish a reserve fund for athletic capital projects, as some residents have told administrators the district should focus on boosting its athletic programs, Pirro said.
“We’ve addressed the facilities, we’ve addressed the windows and the roofs and the tiles and the abatements, and now it looks like it’s a good time to start working on (an) athletic field,” she said.
Pirro said she projects the budget will leave about a $3 million surplus.
Resident Mike Guglielmo said he thinks the district should return more money to the community when it has large surpluses.
“You need new windows, you need new windows, I get it,” he said. But these are very substantial numbers, and I think we can give back another 200, 300 thousand dollars to the community and still fund the windows very easily.”
But larger appropriated fund balances reduce the district’s tax levy, Pirro said, which could leave the district with a tighter allowable levy increase in the future under state tax cap law.
Kamberg said the district’s Financial Advisory Committee is addressing the benefits and drawbacks of returning more to taxpayers.
East Williston will hold budget presentations March 2, 9 and 16 before the school board votes on the budget March 30.
Voters will decide whether to adopt it and spend the capital reserve money May 17.
