Massapequa School Board Hears Final Budget Presentation

The Massapequa Board of Education heard a final presentation on the proposed 2011-12 school budget and pledged to give some money back to taxpayers during a rare Saturday meeting.

The board is expected to adopt the budget on Thursday in advance of a public vote on the spending plan next month. But before doing that they heard last in a series of talks from Deputy Superintendent Alan Adcock outlining the plan.

Adcock once again told those in attendance at the meeting called to give those who can't attend on weeknights a chance to hear about the budget, that the budget contained a 1.72 percent spending increase and a 1.68 percent tax increase. 

But Adcock said that a small amount of state money had recently become available.

"That 1.68 percent represents the governor's number when the governor's budget came out in January," he said.

"Since then, New York state shook hands and said, 'We've got a budget.' " The state's new budget numbers included $250 million of aid to schools, but Massapequa's share was only$ 48,666, Adcock said.

Nevertheless the board members present at the meeting indicated they were willing to give that money back to the tax payers making the proposed tax hike 1.64 percent.

The remainder of the money used to offset the spending increase will com from surplus "rainy day" funds the district has saved up as part of their long term financial plan.

Adcock spent a considerable amount of time in the presentation addressing factors that he said contributed to the bulk of the district's spending, saying much of it comes from state and county mandates.  

These included the Nassau County sewer fee, which the district has joined a  to try to stop, rising health insurance costs, and money to be paid into the teachers retirement system. 

Adcock has been critical of a 2002 change in salary structure mandating that teachers who had been in the system for more than 10 years, no longer had to pay three percent into the retirement fund.

A new pay tier was set up for teachers hired after 2010, but Adcock said districts are still hurt by the skyrocketing costs  caused by the 2002 change.

The deputy superintendent said that the mandates were "driving" district costs.

"If it weren't for large increases in these areas, we'd actually have a budget for this year," that's lower than last year," Adcock said.

Adcock also outlined several steps the district has taken to keep costs down. He touted the district's high credit rating, use of cooperative purchasing and energy performance contracts. He also said the district has been able to lower telephone and insurance costs in the past year.

Also at the meeting, Superintendent Charles Sulc said the district is looking into ways to possible restore an American Sign Language 4 class to the schedule after students from level 3 came to the meeting to express concern about it being dropped.

The course is currently not scheduled to be offered because it did not meet a minimum threshold of students required to sign up for a course required for an elective to go forward. But noting that the level 4 course was only offered for the first time this year, Sulc said, "We are looking at ways of doing this."

The Superintendent said "there might be some way of doing it, we haven't exhausted that possibility."