Schools
School Board: Create Budget Within Tax Cap
Farmingdale school board directs administrators to develop budget within two percent tax cap.
The Board of Education has asked administrators to prepare a budget that falls within the , a different directive , Superintendent John Lorentz said at the January school board meeting.
"The board has challenged and authorized the administration to create a budget that lives within the cap and would maintain all of our programs and that we use whatever resources the district has to make that happen," Lorentz said.
He explained that earlier this year the board had asked the administration to prepare two budgets for the community - one that pierces that the tax cap and maintains all programs and would require 60 percent of the voters to approve it and one that would live within the cap but may have some impact on programs.
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This district had tentatively planned a community meeting on Feb. 15 to discuss the differences between the two, but has since scrapped that plan. However, Lorentz said that community outreach will still happen to educate residents about the implications of the tax cap, especially with the PTAs.
"Our direction has somewhat changed but it still needs to have a lot of community support in order for this to happen," Lorentz said. "We still need the community to understand the implications because there are long term implications of what we might do."
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The two percent tax cap that passed earlier this year applies to the district tax levy, the total amount of taxes collected from the community that go towards the budget. According to Assistant Superintendent for Business Paul Defendini, the district levied near $112 million last year, so this year the levy would be around $115 million.
Individual tax bills are determined by the Nassau County Board of Assessment and are not what the cap applies to, according to Defendini.
Last year, the district passed a $146,957,711 budget, which called for a increase, but represented a from the previous year.
"We really have to understand the tax cap," Lorentz said. "We need the community to be part of the conversation."
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