The Great Neck Board of Education unanimously adopted a $241 million budget for the 2020-21 school year on Wednesday, an increase of almost $7 million.
The budget, adopted by the board virtually via Zoom due to the coronavirus pandemic, is $241,395,571 compared with the current year’s budget of $234,418,944, a rise of 2.98 percent.
John Powell, assistant superintendent of business and finance, said the proposed budget remained within the state-mandated tax.
“The 2 percent tax cap that everyone assumes to mean the real property tax levy cannot increase higher than 2 percent is not absolute,” he said. “Though a 2 percent cap is possible, each public school district’s tax limit will be different as a result of that district’s individual calculation.”
According to the budget, other tax cap calculation components permit the district to raise taxes by 4.16 percent for 2020-21.
The budget calls for a 2.57 percent, or $5,339,183, increase in real property tax. Powell said the district had the fifth-lowest tax rate per $100 of assessed value in Nassau County for the 2019-20 fiscal year.
Powell said the reasons for increases in spending were transportation services, cost overruns from capital projects, Medicare reimbursements, security and increased enrollment in the district’s special education program.
When employees retire and then reach the age of 65, Powell said, Medicare becomes their primary insurance carrier.
“Based on the retiree’s income and whether or not they have a family plan, an average reimbursement could cost the school $5,500 per retiree,” he said. The overall increase to the budget is roughly $600,000, he said.
Powell said there will be a $2.5 million increase in the transportation services from last year. This is because the company the district had used was bought out by another company, according to Powell.
Board of Education President Barbara Berkowitz said that the district has not paid the bus company for the months of April, May and June. Berkowitz said the district is currently negotiating another long-term contract with a pandemic clause if schools are to be closed in fall.
Capital project overruns, according to Assistant Superintendent of Special Education and Pupil Services Joseph Hickey, were a result of unanticipated costs surrounding the materials as well as unforeseen construction conditions for the auditorium construction at E.M. Baker Elementary School and new windows at South High School.
Hickey said school officials remain diligent on “aggressively monitoring” projects to ensure that no additional overruns occur.
According to Powell, enrollment in the special education program increased from 890 in the 2010-11 school year to 1,269 this year, a 40 percent rise.
The new full-time equivalent positions proposed in the budget include two elementary school guidance counselors and a technical security officer to prevent cybersecurity breaches.
Berkowitz said that though no decisions about a potential reduction of state aid have been made, the district’s diligence with its appropriated reserves and fund balance will mitigate any potential adverse effects.
“I’ve referred to the [appropriated reserves and fund balance] as a rainy-day fund sometimes,” Berkowitz said. “It allows us comfort with any unanticipated events like a tree falling through the roof of a school, or major leaks within a school. Things that we cannot anticipate to happen.”
Superintendent of Schools Teresa Prendergast said there have been discussions about how to safely celebrate graduations from the district’s high schools, but nothing concrete had been decided yet.
Prendergast also said the district will continue to adhere to the state and federal government’s mandates, along with health protocols from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Decisions on what form of in-person or remote education for the 2020-21 school year have not been made yet, Prendergast said, but discussions are going on.
Voting on the budget, along with school board elections will take place on June 9 due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, everyone who resides in the district and is registered to vote will receive an absentee ballot, according to Berkowitz.
She said the ballots are not applications to have an absentee ballot sent to residents, but rather the absentee ballot with a postage-paid envelope included.
Berkowitz said the district is sending out more than 30,000 ballots, which must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9.
