The East Williston School District is weighing the possibility of not increasing property taxes in its 2016-2017 budget.
“It’s been the board’s goal to bring us down to a zero levy,” school board President Mark Kamberg said at the last of four budget workshops March 16 at Wheatley High School.
The district could reduce spending by about $266,000 by cutting contingencies for transportation, special education and leave replacement to remove the 0.47-percent tax levy increase it originally proposed, district Superintendent Elaine Kanas said in an email.
That would put the 2016-2017 budget at $57,458,238, and reduce the overall growth in the size of the budget from 1.83 percent to 1.4 percent, Kanas said.
“This way, we’ll get to a lower budget number and a zero levy (increase),” school board Trustee Leonard Hirsch said.
The proposed reductions account for the school board’s request for a new forensic science club at the Willets Road School and an on-site “health support” employee for after-school activities, Kanas said.
The district recently revised the tax levy increase from 0.35 percent to 0.47 percent to account for changes in the amount of payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs, the district will receive from the Long Island Power Authority, the subject of a lawsuit between the utility and more than 40 Nassau County school districts.
The power authority is currently set to pay East Williston about $706,000 in PILOTs next year, Assistant Superintendent for Business Jaqueline Pirro said last week.
East Williston schools currently have a total enrollment of 1,716 high school, middle school and elementary school students, and administrators recommended the district’s new expenditures to include additional staff.
An after-school hours nurse for Willets Road School, and a new part-time bus driver to cover life skills transportation, are expected to cost $15,909 and $12,264, respectively, administrators said, and $2,750 more will cover additional subscriptions to periodicals.
The previously proposed increases in the tax levy and the overall budget already fell below the district’s allowed maximum under state law, administrators have said.
The district expects to receive $4,494,775 in total non-tax revenues, such as state aid, Pirro has said.
The capital committee predicts roughly $5,000,000 in capital project costs throughout the various school buildings included in the 2016-2017 plan, and expects to use funds carried over from the 2015-2016 school year.
The district is also weighing whether to establish an additional capital reserve to support athletic programs and fund projects such as field renovations, construction and drainage issues, Kanas said in an email.
Planned projects at the North Side School would include improvements to the breezeway vestibule, landscaping work and new athletic and turf fields.
Proposed health and safety capital projects include exterior lighting upgrades and interior door replacements at the Wheatley School, as well as ceiling-hung ventilator replacements and concrete replacement at Willets Road School.
An AP Capstone course will be added to the district’s social studies curriculum, along with new textbooks for grades five, six, eight and nine.
The next two weeks will include presentations from the Comprehensive Financial Advisory Committee and the Financial Advisory Committee with their recommendations to the board.
The school board will vote to adopt the budget March 30. District residents will vote on the budget May 17 in the Wheatley School gymnasium from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
