Incumbents retain seats and budgets pass in New Hyde-Park area school districts

Robert Pelaez
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE NEW HYDE PARK-GARDEN CITY PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT New Hyde Park-Garden City Park Board of Education Trustees Tara Notine and James Reddan won uncontested races on Tuesday night.

Incumbent school board trustees retained their seats and budgets were roundly passed in districts serving the New Hyde Park area on Tuesday during school elections.

The budgets passed despite the uncertain status of state aid for every district. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said school districts across New York should brace for up to 20 percent cuts to their funding from the state.

All district elections, which had been delayed by state order due to the coronavirus pandemic, were conducted with absentee ballots.

The New Hyde Park-Garden City Park school district’s $41.07 million budget was approved,  with 1,485 residents voting for it and 777 against it. Trustees Tara Notine and James Reddan both ran unopposed to retain their seats and were re-elected.

Notine, a New Hyde Park resident, has served as vice president of the board since July 2016. She was first elected to the board in 2013 to fill the seat previously held by Alan Cooper. Notine won her first full term in 2014.

Reddan is a lifelong Garden City Park resident who works as an engineer for the Town of Hempstead. He has served on the board since October 2014, when former Trustee Patricia Rudd resigned. He won an unopposed bid in 2015 to finish the term.

The proposed budget for 2020–21 is $41,073,250, a 2.21 percent increase from the $40,184,675 2019–20 budget.

The tax levy increase is 2.67 percent, which is within the district’s state-mandated tax cap.

The budget would allow for the continuation of all current instructional programs, the creation of new positions, the purchase of new library furniture, and professional development for literacy and technology instruction.

In a letter to voters, Assistant Superintendent for Business Michael Frank said that the budget process is decentralized, meaning that department heads have a role in coming up with the initial budget proposal.

The majority of the budget, approximately 80 percent, goes toward staffing costs, Frank explained. The remaining 20 percent covers materials, supplies, equipment, and external contractual obligations such as transportation costs.

The results for the vote on the Sewanhaka school district’s proposed $209 million budget were unavailable.

The budget of $209,265,063 represents an increase of 2.8 percent from the current year. It amounts to approximately $25,864 per student, based on the projected 8,091 students enrolled in the district in 2020-21. 

The rise is partly due to an increase in salaries and retirement contributions. The Teachers Retirement System rate is projected to increase from 8.86 percent to 9.53 percent, and the Employees’ Retirement System is projected to increase from 15.1 percent to 15.4 percent on average.

This comes with a proposed tax levy increase of 2.72 percent, which is the limit for the district.

Of the budget, $1,830,362 goes toward capital improvements. These include installing safety vestibules in every school building and installing electronic locks on every classroom and office door.

The Sewanhaka Board of Education expects to receive $42,552,595 in state aid. This is a $799,716 increase from the aid that the district received last year.

Incumbent Great Neck Public Schools District Board of Education Trustees Rebecca Sassouni and Jeffrey Shi were re-elected to the board.

The district’s adopted $241 million budget was also approved, with 3,709 people voting in favor of it and 1,894 people voting against it.

Sassouni, who received 4,071 votes, defeated challenger John Jahng, who received 1,131 votes. Shi ran unopposed and received 4,048 votes.

Sassouni and Shi were elected to the board for the first time in 2017. Shi defeated Nikolas Kron in the May 2017 election after candidates Grant Toch and Michael Golden dropped out. Sassouni won unopposed after her opponent, Ilya Aronovich, dropped out of the race.

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 cap.

“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.

Board of Education President Barbara 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.”

Residents also approved the $9.74 million budget for the Great Neck Library, with 3,592 votes in favor, and 1,788 votes opposed.

The budget calls for a decrease in spending of $65,500, or 0.61%, from the current operating budget of about $9.8 million. The property tax levy has been flat since fiscal year 2018, calling for just over $9.49 million in revenue, with the rest of the budget supported by payments in lieu of taxes and other resources.

In Herricks, sitting trustees Henry R. Zanetti and James Gounaris kept their seats over newcomers Bhajan S. Ratra and Tarantej S. Arora.

The campaign, marked by the challengers critiquing the incumbents over the school’s budget and issues of transparency during Board of Education meetings, came to a head when Gounaris posted a photo of a ballot paper on Facebook, tagging Zanetti, with the bubbles next to Gounaris’ and Zanetti’s names clearly filled in. The image was captioned, “This is the correct way to fill out your Herricks ballot.” 

Ratra and Arora then reported the post to the district clerk, the New York State Board of Elections, and Nassau County Board of Elections requesting that they investigate the “unfair and unethical practices” of Gounaris and Zanetti regarding the election. 

In his race, Zanetti received 72 percent of the vote, with Ratra receiving 28 percent. The other race saw Gounaris receive 72 percent to Arora’s 28 percent. 

The proposed $120,534,523 budget, a 2.547 percent increase from the 2019-20 budget of $117,541,264, was passed with 63 percent of the vote after 4,924 ballots were cast.

Residents of the Floral Park-Bellerose school district approved a $32.5 million budget for the 2020-21 school year, and Trustee Laura Trentasconte won an unopposed election to retain her seat on Tuesday night.

The budget of $32,454,520 amounts to a 1.53 increase from the $31,963,935 budget for 2019–20.

The budget will support the purchase of two new large school buses, maintenance of existing programs, the addition of a school psychologist, maintenance of facilities and security and increased professional development for teachers and administrators. Additionally, $715,000 will be transferred to capital for bathroom renovations and other projects included in the five-year capital plan.

The proposed tax levy increase is 2.76 percent.

Of the budget, 77.65 percent will go toward programs. Administrative costs make up 11.38 percent, and the remaining 10.98 percent is earmarked for capital projects.

The district expects $5,204,082 in state aid. Last year, Floral Park-Bellerose received $5,371,076 from the state.

Trentacoste, a writer, ran unopposed for her second term on the board. She lives in the Floral Park-Bellerose district with her husband and three children and is herself a graduate of Floral Park-Bellerose School and Floral Park Memorial High School.  She received 2,589 votes.

Rose Weldon contributed reporting.

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