The East Williston School Board opted to join a growing number of other school districts in a lawsuit to prevent the planned end of the county guarantee, which obligates the county to make up the tax revenue shortfall caused by tax appeals.
The Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association is currently encouraging Nassau County school districts to join in the legal fray by signing contracts with Hamburger, Maxson, Yaffe, Knauer & McNally, which has been retained as counsel for the suit.
“I think the county is trying to shove its problems onto us,” board member David Keefe said.
Board vice president Robert Freier said that Nassau County legislator Richard Nicolello couldn’t explain to Freier why he was voting to rescind the guarantee.
“Nobody knows what the cost figures to be because the county won’t release it,” board president Mark Kamberg said.
Lorna Lewis, superintendent of schools for East Williston, has estimated that the shortfall in county funds if the guarantee was eliminated would cost her district more than $600,000 annually, which would represent a 1.3 percent increase on its current budget.
The board voted unanimously to participate in the lawsuit.
Bethpage, Carle Place, Elmont , East Rockaway, Garden City, Jericho, Lynbrook, North Shore, Plainedge, Port Washington, Rockville Centre, Roslyn and West Hempstead have already agreed to join in the suit, according to Lorraine Deller, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.
The Herricks School Board voted to table action on joining the lawsuit last week based on concerns about the language of the contract it must sign with the law firm representing the respective school districts.
But Herricks Superintendent of Schools John Bierwirth said he favors joining the effort to thwart the county’s plan to eliminate the guarantee after several decades without consulting state officials.
“That’s the issue,” Bierwirth said. “This is not the way to do this.”
Bierwirth expressed concern about the impact on the Herricks district, which he said isn’t easily calculated at this point.
“There are significantly different numbers out there on what the district’s liability is,” he said.
On a legislative front, Kamberg and board member Barbara Slone have met with representatives of several schools districts on the North Shore aiming to form a lobbying group to mitigate the impact of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed property tax cap, cut unfunded mandates and compel public service employees to contribute to their pension funds and health care packages.
“They are trying to work as a lobbying entity,” Kamberg said.
Slone said the group wants the tax cap to be set at 2 percent or at the level of the consumer price index, whichever is higher. Other ideas include raising the retirement age up from 62 years and creating a new form of 401-K contributory accounts.
The group, which includes the Manhasset, Port Washington, Roslyn, North Shore, Jericho and Oyster Bay school districts, according to Kamberg, is seeking advice from attorneys at Guercio & Guercio.
Guercio & Guercio represented school districts in successfully overturning former Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi’s legal initiative to eliminate the county guarantee two years ago.
“East Williston is bracing itself for a budget that could mean a loss of teachers and services,” Kamberg said.
Lewis reiterated the need for dumping mandates and enacting pension reform in recounting a meeting she and other school district superintendents had with state Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel.
“We believe that the legislature needs to revisit that,” Lewis said.
She suggested that a 3.5 percent contribution level would be appropriate.
