The Great Neck Board of Education on Thursday unanimously adopted a $214,067,850 million budget for the 2014-15 school year, $565,160 more than originally proposed in March.
School officials said the $565,160 increase would be used to restore cuts made in the earlier budget.
“We added back hours to the elementary and special ed level,” Assistant Superintendent for Business Jonathan Powell said.
The revised budget calls for a 2.21 percent increase in spending over the 2013-14 budget and a 1.97 percent increase in the tax levy.
Powell said the increase in spending followed an increase the tax levy made in response to a “property tax freeze” that was passed as part of the state budget approved in late March. The board’s original budget of $213,502,695 included a tax levy increase of 1.37 percent.
Powell said that in the second year of the state’s agreement homeowners whose districts stayed under the 2 percent state-mandated tax cap will receive a rebate check from the state.
Great Neck Superintendent of Schools Thomas Dolan said “it was my understanding” that homeowners would receive a check in the amount of how much their taxes went up.
“So if your taxes went up $197, you get a check for $197,” Dolan said.
Dolan said the budget puts the school district “in good posture for next year.”
Powell said the tax levy increase was also good news to some of the teachers in the school districts.
“By going back up we were able to add back some reductions,” he said.
Powell said the school board had already voted to use part of the $2,261,000 that had originally been set aside before the New York State Court of Appeals ruling in the county “Guaranty” tax certiorari case in February to increase the district’s operating budget.
The budget calls for $1 million of that money to be placed in the school’s reserves and another $1.1 million to be used to restore cuts that were proposed by the board in March, including cutting teacher’s hours.
The board in March had proposed to use $1.9 million of the $2,261,000 to lower the tax levy and another $300,000 to restore cuts that had been proposed by the board.
The budget also calls for $140,000 in additional state aid to be used to maintain elementary school class sizes, Powell said.
“That money will be used to create two contingency positions in case our enrollment goes up,” he said.
Kindergarten classes in the Great Neck public school district have a maximum size of 19 students in a class, grades one and two a maximum of 22 and grades three to five a maximum of 25, according to Dolan.
The budget calls for 6,432 students to be enrolled in the school system for the 2014-15 school year, a 0.63 percent increase from the current year.
Powell also said the school district will save about $100,000 by retiring the position of attendance registrar.
“One of our existing administrators will take over the responsibilities [of the registrar],” he said.
The budget calls for $196,435,489 to be raised in property taxes, which is about 92 percent of the school’s revenue.
The board will hold a final hearing on the budget on Monday, May 12 at Great Neck South Middle School at 7:30 p.m.
The budget will be voted on by residents of the Great Neck Public School District on Tuesday, May 20.
Residents will also vote on a race for two school board seats in which trustees Lawrence Gross and Susan Healy are being challenged by Great Neck resident Chris Huang.
Residents will also vote on the Great Neck Public Library’s $9.6 million budget, which calls for a 1.19 percent increase in the tax levy and was adopted by the library’s board of trustees earlier this month.
Voting will held on May 20 from 7 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. at E.M. Baker Elementary School, located at 69 Baker Hill Road and Great Neck South High School, located at 341 Lakeville Road.
The results will be announced at 10:30 p.m. at the Phipps Administration Building, located at 345 Lakeville Road.
Reach reporter Anthony O’Reilly by e-mail at oreilly@theislandnow.com, by phone at 516.307.1045 x203 and on Twitter @ reilly_anthony. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
