The Herricks Board of Education approved the 2014-15 BOCES budget at last Thursday night’s meeting and received news that it would save $1 million on the cost of a long-term bond for capital improvements.
The Herricks board approved a BOCES budget of $19.89 million for 2014-15, a 1.1 percent increase over 2013-14.
The BOCES budget includes a reduction in salaries and fringe benefits for BOCES staff from $8.52 million to $8.38 million.
“We use BOCES if we have a special education student with a particular need,” Herricks assistant superintendent of business Helen Costigan said of the organization’s role.
She said the Herricks district shares the cost of BOCES services with other Nassau County school districts based on the size of its population and on property valuations. She said those shared costs include administrative costs such as program costs, supplies and retiree benefits.
Herricks Trustee Brian Hassan said the school district also can opt in to participate in collective purchasing deals to reduce expenses.
At Thursday’s meeting, Costigan said she had refinanced a $10 million bond at 1.5 percent over seven years, realizing a savings of $1 million. She said the original bond dated from 2005 for capital improvements of $19 million with an interest rate between 4 percent and 4.5 percent.
“The rates are so favorable, we refinanced it and save $1 million over the next seven years, which is phenomenal,” Costigan said.
“The million dollars saved was a nice little hit,” Hassan said. :It equates to about $140,000 less in payments for us each year.”
Costigan said she also renegotiated an interest rate of 1.9 percent on the last 10 years of $6 million in 25-year bond anticipation notes from 2008.
Hassan reported that playgrounds at the Denton Avenue and Center Street were repaved ahead of schedule over the recent Easter break. The work was slated to be done this summer.
