A Port Washington Board of Education trustee said the budget for the 2020-21 school year may rise to pay for repairs to school roofs.
The trustee, Dave Kerpen, who serves on the Budget and Facilities Committee, said the committee discussed a need to fund additional roofing at Schreiber High School and other schools in the district.
“It looks like we will be financing our roofing needs through a transferred capital line,” Kerpen said. “What that means is that we can expect to have a more significant transferred capital line than we have had in the past, which would in fact result, if we were to do that, in an increase to our taxes.”
He did not give an estimate for the cost of the roof work.
Kerpen said the committee had discussed the idea of taking on a bond for the roofing needs, but ultimately decided that the interest on the bond over time would exceed the tax increase of the transferred capital line.
“We absolutely have to figure out a way to make sure our roofs are taken care of and our children and staff are safe above all else,” Kerpen said. “We’ll have to go into the vault a little bit, but the money will directly go to the roofs, and not interest for a bond for many, many years to come.”
The Board of Education will hold its next meeting, which will include a State of the District presentation, on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 8 p.m. in the Schreiber High School library.
