Members of the East Williston Board of Education expressed concern at last Wednesday night’s meeting that the village might lose the Roslyn Country Club from the village tax rolls if the Town of North Hempstead proceeds with a plan to take over the 10-acre property.
Mark Kamberg, president of the East Williston school board, said the board had received numerous e-mails and phone calls from residents who are concerned about the issue.
“We need to be sure as a school board that we will not lose that as a tax base,” said Kamberg, who noted that the Roslyn Country Club annual property taxes are currently $36,000.
Robert Freier, vice president of the school board, echoed Kamberg’s concern about the potential loss of the county club property as a taxable asset.
“Someone needs to be looking out for the district in terms of the tax base to see what happens if the town takes it over,” Freier said.
Freier said he thought the Roslyn Heights property was “grossly undertaxed.”
The property currently consists of a catering facility, a pool and tennis courts, although the pool and tennis courts are reportedly in disrepair and not in use.
“It’s almost like they’re being taxed as if it’s a household,” Freier said.
Board member Barbara Slone said the current owner has let the facility decline into “horrendous condition.”
“There is no country club there,” she said.
Kamberg suggested that someone from the school district administration should attend the Tuesday night meeting of the Town of North Hempstead board and contact Town of North Hempstead Councilman Thomas Dwyer about the board’s concerns over the future of the facility.
After a nearly four-hour hearing on the country club last month, the town board decided to continue the hearing on July 12. The board is considering condemning the property and taking it over through eminent domain.
In her 2010-11 “report card” to the board, East Williston Superintendent of Schools Lorna Lewis said the entire Wheatley School class of 151 students received their diplomas, with 83 percent of them receiving advanced Regents diplomas and 92 percent planning to attend four-year colleges next fall.
She called the 696 AP exams taken by the 2011 class ” astounding,” and said that the number of AP exams taken was a results of “opening gates” to new classes.
There were 114 AP scholars and four national AP scholars in the class, Lewis said.
Addressing the recent change in state board of education requirements for bus transportation, Lewis noted that school boards statewide had been lobbying for relief from the obligation to provide a bus seat for each student in the district who is eligible for transportation.
Freier suggested that the board hold a work session to discuss the busing changes before taking a decision.
During the reorganization meeting that preceded the regular board meeting, Kamberg and Freier were unanimously reinstalled as president and vice president of the board, respectively.
Board member David Keefe said the board should not “break up the team” of its two officers.
