Port Washington school trustees announced cuts of $1.135 million from the district’s draft budget on Tuesday.
The cuts brought the district’s proposed budget down to $161 million — a $5.14 million increase over the 2018-19 budget or 3.3 percent
The draft budget would allow the district to impose a 2.87 percent increase in tax levy which amounts to $3,946,340.
If the budget were to be approved as is, the 2019 allowable tax levy would amount to $140,995,639.
Revenue from state aid and other areas are projected to be $18,849,077 with $10 million coming in state aid.
With the allowable tax levy and the anticipated revenue, there is a gap of $1,234,559 between the budget and all of the district’s revenues.
The majority of cuts announced at Tuesday’s board meeting consisted of deferments in additional staffing and roof upgrades at Sousa and South Salem Elementary Schools.
Roofs at Sousa and South Salem Elementary Schools are now being considered for a roof bond in the future, Assistant Superintendent of Business Mary Callahan said.
She said an analysis by the district’s architect suggests that roof sections at Schreiber High School and Sousa Elementary School are the most likely to fail.
Board President Karen Sloan said funds will be set aside in case the roofs do become an immediate issue.
The funding for additional staffing was dropped from $1,596,000 to $849,000, a decrease of $747,000 or 61 percent.
Callahan said district administrators are currently conducting the analysis to calculate fund balances for the 2018-19 budget as of June 30.
School trustee Larry Greenstein said he believed Long Island was being shortchanged by the state. He noted that while Long Island accounts for 17 percent of the state’s students, they only receive 12 percent of the tax revenue.
He urged residents and members of the board to contact their legislators for more tax money to be returned to the region.
Port Washington resident Bob Young asked board members whether they are doing anything to constrain budget spending further following Congress passing legislation that capped deduction for state and local taxes at $10,000.
Sloan informed Young that it is not the board’s policy to answer questions from residents but encouraged him to attend the budget and facilities meeting on March 5 at 8:30 a.m.
He said he has ideas to reduce spending that he would like to share at next Tuesday’s meeting on the budget.
“I just think it is something we really need to take seriously, we no longer have the ability to have unconstrained spending in the school district and proclaim it is all for the good of the children,” Young said. “At this point we need to actually think about our community, we need to preserve the value of the community and the property values for the people who spend a lot of money to live here.”
