The Roslyn School District announced during a board meeting Thursday more than $500,000 in cuts to its proposed budget, due mainly to teacher reductions at the elementary level in response to decreased enrollment.
The reduction decreased the tax levy increase from 2.77 percent in February to 2.11 percent.
Assistant Superintendent of Business Joseph Dragone presented the changes in a presentation in which he detailed how the district calculates its tax levy.
The 2.11 percent tax levy is well within the district’s 2.69 percent tax levy limit, Dragone said, due mainly to Roslyn’s ability to use reserve funds to keep the figure down.
The district’s projected budget for 2013-14 school year is currently $91,194,142, a 2.63 percent budget-to-budget increase that amounts to approximately $2 million more than last year’s budget.
Exclusions, including pension exclusions, went down from 4.14 percent in 2012-13 to 2.14 percent this year, Dragone said.
Dragone announced a total tax levy before exclusions of $87,177,482.71, down nearly $2 million from 2012-13.
Dragone said the county assessor also noted a drop in Roslyn’s home values and the tax percentage had increased by 3.5 percent. The board must adopt a proposed budget by April 17, which will be voted on by the public May 21.
Dragone said that even though the budget has changed considerably since its last revision, staff reductions and tax increases will not result in the district having to cut programs.
Included in the budget changes is a $9,600 fund transfer toward the BOCES Challenge Arts and Education Day program and the allocation of $42,406 for the reassignment of a special education teacher from Roslyn High School to East Hills Elementary School.
The board announced $160,000 in full-time staff reductions at Harbor Hill due to coincide with projected enrollment decreases and $62,000 in reductions to the special education staff at Heights Elementary School.
The board also transferred $238,000 to its Capital Fund Transfer to handle the abatement and set aside $200,000 toward a six-year repair plan to refurbish Roslyn High School’s track and field turf, though Dragone said the changes will not incur any extra costs to taxpayers.
Superintendent of Schools Dan Brenner said that despite the changes, as well as its continuous use of reserve funds to offset the levy, Roslyn is still in a fortunate financial situation when compared with other districts on Long Island and that it would be irresponsible for the district’s financial future to continue trying to decrease the tax levy under its current 2.11 percent figure.
Board of Education President Meryl Waxman Ben-Levy agreed with Brenner’s assertion, saying a decrease from the 2.69 limit to 2.11 is a negligible amount, accounting for a difference of about $90,000.
Trustee Clifford Saffron said the district should work toward keeping the levy as close to the limit as possible to provide for flexibility in handling unforeseen financial circumstances in the future.
Dragone also suggested the district utilize a large amount of its reserve money by maintaining payments on its debt-service fund, currently at $550,000, until it is eliminated.
