001student officials Sariah and Aaliyah are here as well. Our superintendent, Dr. Gina Talbbert. Our assistant superintendent for human resources, Mary Stevens. Our director of human did I just say that? Assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction, Mary Stevens. Sorry. Our director of human resources, Dr. Landau. and our interim assistant superintendent of finance and operations Joe Draon. At this point in time, could you please join the uh please join the board of education in the pledge of allegiance to the flag United States of American President Johnson, members of the board, members of the community, welcome to our budget session. Tonight, we will present the proposed 2026 2027 school district budget via line by line. And this budget reflects our continued commitment to fiscal responsibility, transparently, transparency, and most importantly, the educational needs of our students. Tonight you're going
002to hear more about the proposed budget of 123,536,928 representing a 2.29% increase from last year's budget. You will hear student voice represented in the budget. You're going to hear a few things that are new that are proposed, an overview of expenditures, an overview of revenue, a little bit about some functions, uh, object codes, as well as fund balance and reserves. We want to thank Mr. Joe Dreon who has come in to, uh, responsibly pick up the budget where it was and to bring us to this point where we are today. Special thanks to the cabinet and to all who contributed to the proposed budget that you will hear tonight. Without further ado, Mr. Draon, if you would come forward and begin to walk us through tonight's presentation, >> I'm sure I do hear either way.
003>> Would you prefer him? Whatever makes you happy, whatever is comfortable. >> Okay, that's great. >> Thank you. Um, Dr. Talbert, members of the board of education. Um, and as soon as I get the clicker, I was wondering how that was going to happen. Thank you. >> Yeah. So, I'd like to start tonight with a description of what's new in this budget so that we can have a focus on what things we're adding um or proposing to add to this budget uh as a starting point. The first thing we're adding, we're suggesting be added is membership in reform educational financing inequities today. It's an organization that focuses on districts like Amityville um that are being shortchanged uh in state a in state aid. We're proposing the district clerk position be returned to full-time. We're proposing
004a new position of accountant um in part to prepare for the eventual retirement of our long-term and very experienced and very valuable Maryanne Nibllock. Um we are proposing that we authorize the attendance of staff members at the school business management workshop. Um that workshop is run by New York State ASBO and it provides training for district clerks, payroll clerks, um and business officials, treasurers, uh and it's a very valuable workshop to attend. We're proposing that two people be allowed to go next year at a cost of approximately $1,500 a piece. Uh and that we rotate that every year. So that for example, next year there'd be a payroll clerk and the district clerk. The following year there may be uh somebody from human resources and the other payroll clerk, etc. We're proposing that we hire
005a purchasing agent. A purchasing agent would probably save us uh as much as the salary we're proposing by making sure that we follow all of the requirements of the law and find the best value for everything we purchase. U we do not currently have a purchasing agent right now. the interim assistant superintendent for finance and operations is the purchasing agent, the records access officer, the deputy district clerk. Um, and we think that it would be appropriate to get some of those responsibilities in the hands of other people. HR has told us that a new clerical staff member is required. In fact, I would point out when we get to this item in the agenda that with a new clerical staff member, we would most likely be reducing significantly the amount of overtime that is required
006now in the human resources office. We have a whole wing at the norththeast school. Northwest school. Northeast school. I said it right the first time. that is not covered now by a night custodian. It can't be cleaned. When this happened a year ago, two years ago, it was discovered. It was done because we weren't using that section of the building. We've now moved classes into that building. It needs to be cleaned every night. And the way we're going about it is by hiring substitute custodians or paying people overtime. This is the more efficient and proper way to do it. The next three requests I would like to thank Aaliyah and Sarah Sarai who have given us a number of suggestions to be included in the budget and we although we wish we could include every
007one of them. We tried to pick the ones that they seem to express to us are the most important. It would be furniture for a meditation room at the high school. Um the to replace the softball benches at the middle school and to replace the flyar which is the the underllayment in the playground that provides the soft surface so that children don't get hurt when they fall off the equipment. On the next page, we're proposing that we hire a um strategic planning partner to help us develop a strategic plan. We're proposing two instructional coaches, one at the elementary level and one for special education. And the purpose of these coaches would be to assist our teachers in moving our students from level one to level two or level two to level three or level three
008to level four on the state tests. And you will see included included in your binder tonight, you will see the school report card which demonstrates the need for this kind of leadership. We are also um proposing that we add building level lead teachers at Northeast and Northwest. We now have building level lead teachers at the middle school, Park Avenue, and the high school. At the high school, we're proposing that instead of building level lead teachers, we reinstate high school department chairpersons in math, social studies, science, and what did I miss? English language arts. Thank you. We're also proposing that we add a lead teacher for guidance um to assist the guidance department in meeting its obligations. And very exciting to me is uh the concept of a summer bridges program that we're proposing which would
009be for rising kindergarten, first, third, and sixth grade students at the elementary level and rising ninth grades, ninth graders at the secondary level. The purpose of this program, I am sure Mary Stevens could talk about for several hours. Um but let let it suffice to say that uh what we're proposing is a two-week program where children could pick one of the two weeks to attend. And the purpose of the program would be to make sure that their academic um skills are up to par so that they could enter the school uh on a par with the other children. number one and number two to provide a transition from the primary school to the elementary school from the elementary school to the middle school. >> So I have a qu is it can we interrupt with
010questions or >> whichever whichever way you'd prefer to do it. I was I was going to go through the presentation and then >> Okay, go through the presentation then I'll I'll ask my questions. Okay. Yeah, >> that way I'll go quicker. Okay. >> Um next page. We are proposing um a new special education teacher for an in district class instead of out of district. This teacher would serve kindergarten children that would have otherwise needed to go out of district for the services that are required. Um the special education department has worked with the parents of these children. Uh and the parents are quite excited about the possibility of having their children educated in district with all of the appropriate supports that are necessary. Um and we think it's the the proper way to go. We
011also need because of the needs expressed by children another speech teacher. We'd be adding one more speech teacher to this budget. We are also proposing that we assign as a stipend of $2500 each a staff member to manage each school's website. So this would be a stipended position. It would be an existing staff member who would be paid extra to make sure that the building's website is up todate. Uh Mr. Faucus has asked that rather than contract for the services of an athletic trainer, he would prefer to hire an athletic trainer. He feels that he'd have more control over the time. The current athletic trainer that we use is working in another school district and sometimes doesn't get to us until 4:15 in the afternoon after after games have already started. So, this would give
012us the opportunity to hire someone and set their schedule to match our needs. We also believe that there is a need to address some of the counseling, mental health, and testing needs that our children are exhibiting. And that's why we're proposing another psychologist to work at the high school to address those needs. And finally, Mr. Faucus has asked and we've included in this budget the replacement of the wrestling mats at both the high school and the middle school. The wrestling mats are old. They're torn. Um and they just need to be replaced. So, I will stop there before I go any further in the presentation so that if you have questions about those particular items, we can answer them now. All right. So, which is let's start with let's start with page two. Go back
013to being around where yes. So, there were um I I do have so just going back to the accountant um the focus is for in preparation for potential retirement that that was if I heard that one correctly correct. >> Yes. Uh we think that this position would allow us to make a very smooth transition. >> Okay. >> The latest that I've heard from Maryanne is that she's planning on leaving in December. >> Um and quite frankly, Maryanne's responsibilities are vast and complicated. Uh and we think that we really need an accountant. um not the kind of accountant that audits stuff, but an accountant who knows how to make records, journal entries, etc., which Maryanne does with a plum. And we think that we need to get that person on board now to work with Maryanne
014um and eventually take over that desk. >> Okay. And my second question, then I'll pass on. You said for the um SBMW that school business management workshop and proposing two people to attend and you said for example payroll clerk what were the other areas as well >> the for yes they run strands for the payroll clerks for the district clerks for business officials they call it the fiscal strand. Um so when you go to the school business management workshop you could choose which strand you want to attend and then there are focused workshops in that strand for you. For example the district clerk strand would include uh a foil session um a meetings session. What are the legal requirements of board meetings noticing meetings etc. the payroll clerk would uh focus on the use of
015Envision or WindCap, whichever financial system we're using to make the best use of it. And I've I've been going to it for 30 years and I've learned something every time I've been there. >> And so if we didn't do this, how would these individuals get this knowledge? Well, we do have an what we call an institutional membership in ASBO and uh we do have some workshops that people can attend online. This is a focused 3-day um training which I think is much more valuable than the one hour one and a half hour Zoom meetings. >> Thank you. I'll go around the the Go ahead. >> Yeah, I do. You want to go first? >> Sure. >> All right. Um, so the replacing these softball benches at the middle school, um, it was not really directly
016involved with this, but brought it to mind. the work that we're doing to repair the fields at the high school now is is that completed or is that going to require any further work? >> So this year >> we do have um we did apply the grant funds as you know from the last meeting when you ex allowed us to increase the appropriation by 61,000 something. Am I in the ballpark, Al? I'm sorry. Softball field ballpark. Bad joke. Um, but we did um appropriate that money and we're um expecting that we'll issue a contract to Lantech um and they'll do that work rapidly. I hope within the next couple of weeks that will be done. >> All right. Thank you. uh and the uh playground punishment for Park Avenue. What is that surface going to
017look like? >> The fibar is um it looks like wood chips. Uh it is a material that is made a composition of fibers and wood and it's used as an underllayment on the playground surface and it's Yes. Please but but come up Al and speak into the microphone. >> Check one too. So good question. So, when I first got here two years ago, there was nothing budgeted to replenish the fibar at Park Avenue, and there were huge holes underneath where the slides were, where the kids jumped down. Just an unsafe condition. Uh, our custodians and groundsmen will go out with roatillas to fluff up that surface. Now, keep in mind, Park Avenue is the only elementary school that does not have the poor in place servicing, uh, the rubberized surface that we have at both
018Northeast and Northwest. And for equity, I've put it in the budget to get in place servicing, but uh we'll get to that at some point. In the interim, we still do need to budget to replace that uh material in there just for the safety of the children. So that's the reason it's getting put in. >> Thank you. The pour in place floor um surface that you're talking about is that's better for like students with disabilities. >> It's 100% better. Absolutely. Yeah. So, it's it's a firm rubberized surface that you can roll wheelchairs on. You can have ADA access, which we currently don't have at Park Avenue right now. >> And it costs $100,000 >> just to pour that material down. >> Yeah. >> Without changing any of the existing equipment that's there. That's just for
019the >> No, it would go it would go around that. The uh the cost would be also the removal of the fibar and the um and the railroad ties going around. I think they would expand that area a little bit. uh build ramps in so that you could go onto the surface. >> Exactly. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> If I may comment on that as well, Sarai or Aaliyah, you all had the opportunity to meet with the students at Park Elementary. Um could you elaborate on what their request was? Do you recall? So, this was a while ago, but from my knowledge, they did not want the wood chips and they wanted the rubber. That's what was Yeah. conveyed to me. >> Yes, >> you are correct. And so, what we're saying is
020in the meantime to replace the combination of wood chips and what is the other material combined? by bar to ensure that it's safe and then the rubberized flooring is in the budget separately. Is that correct? >> So, I put a line item in to make Park Avenue's playground pour in place. Whether it gets approved or not, that's a different story, but this is the first time we're proposing to do it. If we don't do it, what's happened in the past is either that playground was not replenished with new material, thereby leaving those depressions in the in the surface. As you know, when you slide down, it's very hard. Uh it really needs to be done every year and probably in prior years either it was just ignored or they pulled money someplace that wasn't accounted
021for and then there would be a shortfall in the budget. So that's why it was included this year. So, this would just be to hold it over until we hopefully put that new surface down. >> Well, when you say hold it over, it's it's something that you I would assess every year to see how low because sometime you some years you can get away with rotoilling and then re-leveling the surface. >> Okay. >> But this one was low. So, that's why I made a proposal. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Um my next question would be for the um teacher for class in district instead of out of district. What's the expected enrollment for that class? >> It would be six students. It's a special education class >> and all six of those students are
022currently out of district. They are currently uh in out of district prek programs. >> Okay. Thank you. And >> can I just jump in right quick? What is the course for the out of district for the six students for the prek program? >> I don't have that off top. >> I know that many out of district programs for kindergarten students would run in the neighborhood of 30 to $40,000 per child. So, we're talking about a quarter of a million dollar cost for an out of district placement versus a 90,000 plus special services cost uh like speech and ABA and etc. We're in district >> and and uh just to add to that, this kindergarten class uh was a decision of the committee on special education that the six students would be best suited for an
023in district kindergarten class. >> One more question. Um the athletic trainer, are they going to be responsible for the middle school and the high school or just the high school? >> Yeah, it would have to be. Um and we'd have to figure out how exactly that happens. But um right now he contracts for one person. So if the schedule is working out on a contract basis, it should work out on a person basis. Does the athletic trainer now service the middle school also? I don't remember. They do. Okay. >> No. Yes. What was the answer? >> Yes. >> You finished. All right. Now that you I'm ahead to that. No. >> We would if we were going to if we were going to look for a trainer, we'd really have to get a like a
024three-year contract or something, not a year by year because no one's going to take the position year by year. So, that would be part of it also, I'm assuming. Yeah, I'm I'm assuming also and we also have issues to face like would this be person be a member of the ATA >> or not represented. Um we'd have to work those things out. Dr. Lando and I have not put that bow on it yet because we're waiting for the board to tell us yes or no and then we'll figure out the details. >> Could they be associated with the nurses? >> Could be. That could be a possibility. Um, depends upon whether the ATA would claim that this person really is has more of a community of interest with teachers than with nurses. That's the legal
025language that's used to determine which unit will represent them. >> Okay? And they get paid by the hour, right? Now, or game or meet or >> the current contract pays them by the hour, right? Okay. this person would be salaried. >> I don't remember. No, that I realize I don't remember in the um budget. How much were are we spending per year? >> Approximately the same amount. Maybe a little bit more. >> Thank you. >> One more follow up on that. So would this would health benefit costs be added on top of this? >> Yes, they would. >> Okay. And how much would that run approximately? Well, depending upon whether the person chooses family or individual, um if and depending on the unit that they're in, um it could be as much as $25,000 if
026they choose family. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Carol. um uh the uh north the new building level lead teacher at Northeast and Northwest. The one that we would consider for Northeast. Is there any way that the grant money could pick up the cost of that? >> Which grant are you talking about, Carol? >> The prek grant. Northeast. >> Oh, the UPK. That's an interesting idea. Yes, we might be able to do that. >> Okay. Yes. >> Um for at least one of them. And then instructional coach, it says elementary. So will this one person be split between three buildings? >> Yes, that's the intent. >> Okay. So my next question then would be, is it really necessary to have an instructional coach in a prek building as well as a building level lead teacher? >>
027So I would ask Miss Stevens to just elaborate on the explicit purpose of both of the coaches. in terms of their targeted roles. >> So in the work that we've been doing um to move student achievement forward, we're focusing on subgroups. So our elementary coach would be focusing on our multilingual learners specifically to make sure that teachers are providing tier one interventions within the classroom that support the needs of students. um particularly at that early childhood level where we have emergent bilingual or emergent multilingual learners, it's critical that we're providing support within the classroom in addition to the services that we're providing. Um and then we're also focusing on our special education students. So we want to make sure that our students are getting all of the support that they can get within the classroom
028so that teachers are having modeling. So that's why we think for all three buildings for the elementary and for all of our buildings for the special education. >> Thank you. >> Do you want to send anyone? Sure. Me? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um thank you. I I uh thank you for the presentation. I think it's in the later in the presentation, but as we go forward, everything that is identified here is what's new and what's proposed is bringing is right up to the top of the tax cap, right? >> Yeah, we could talk about the tax levy implications about it. Uh the tax levy would be yes at the limit. Um, but in order to hold it to the limit, we would need to appropriate from fund balance or use from our reserves an additional
029$400,000 roughly compared to what we did this year. And I I have that in the presentation. I'll talk about the revenue side of the budget separately from the expenditure side if I may. So, what's the total that we would use from I know you're going to get to it. Just since you just said $400,000 more than last year, >> $470,832 more than we did for this year, but a total increase of 15.9%. Which I will tell you right now is in my mind not appropriate. >> Not appropriate. not appropriate. >> I think we should be moving in the opposite direction. >> I would agree with that. >> Okay. So, we don't have enough revenue for what's being presented right now. I think the conversation is great, right? And adding all of these services back in
030and building and trying to support the students. I love the conversation. It's great to be in this position potentially as compared to the past two years, but I thought that I understood that from the information that we received last night that we're still borrowing money from reserves to make this happen. >> That's exactly correct. >> Um, okay. I just wanted to understand that. I do have specific questions. Um just tagging on to what the other trustees are questioning. Um I was of the opinion to understand and I had asked this a few times of just what is the 2026 what do we need without anything new and what does that look like from like just contractual increases of salaries and what would that look like as far as the tax increase. Uh, so I had
031hoped to see that. Um, and I guess with adding new positions and we're talking about health care and and union, you know, what union would they fall into? I'm going, geez, you know, do we know that we can sustainably add these new positions in subsequent years with with the negotiated contract terms with open contract negotiations still pending for some of the units. Um, so a lot of this is a lot of information. The first time we're seeing this new the proposed new um positions and and expenditures. Um, I like the idea of the accountant to be honest with you because we've had a lot of discussion. You're here with us Mr. Done about how hard it is to fill the assistant superintendent of finance role. there was um from legal counsel he suggested that there's
032other ways that districts go about it whereas they have like a business official and they have an assistant superintendent of operations I believe so is this sort of like helping us to get there in having like a purchasing agent is the purgency agent like similar to like a business official or can you No >> no a purchasing agent is someone who's dedicated ated to the process of procuring >> fees and making sure we're doing it every 3 years. >> Exactly. And making sure that the goods that we do procure, if they are on a bid, um that the bid has been renewed, that we we look at the most economical way of procuring the best goods that we can. >> That is a full-time job. >> Um and it's against >> now it's sitting in
033my my desk which I gladly do it but um as Dr. Talbert will tell you you're not going to find many people who stay here until midnight to do that which is what I'm doing now. >> Okay. Um so the accountant that's overlapping with somebody that's projected to retire this they're not an accountant. Is that what I'm understanding? currency. >> Marian Nibluck is not an accountant, >> but she's essentially doing that role. >> Exactly. Correct. She is a principal clerk, I think, is her title. >> Okay. >> And she has 45 years of experience >> and I dare say she could probably teach some accountants some things. Um, she's taught auditors some things. >> So, um, you know, to lose that. Yeah. >> Is would be a disaster for the district. >> No, the overlap
034makes sense. The secession planning like I just um just wanted to clarify if we had an do we have an accountant or not officially? >> No, we do not. >> Um Okay. Um the second the night custodian for the second wing of northeast I think you said. >> Yes. this. We've had multiple discussions again about the overtime that we've expended expended this year, right, >> for custodial help. You're saying this is this is going to remedy that. >> This would take care of a good portion of that. >> Good portion of it, but not all of it. >> Not all of it because some of the overtime is due to snow removal. Some of it is unexpected. Right. >> Understood. Um um the um I'm not going to talk about the minor the building repair
035stuff because there's so much in the in the comprehensive the line by line. If we're going to get to the line by line, there's a lot of infrastructure spending already. Um >> yeah, if I could just because I know that you've done your homework and you've read >> Well, I know I've just an hour this afternoon, but >> So, let me tell you that there is a a whole list of things that we would like to do. Some of them made it into the budget. Others of them are listed for your reference. We received from the architect >> a report that shows we have $101 million worth >> of capital work that needs to be done. >> We need to address that in some way. This budget puts $680,000 into the transfer to the capital
036fund. It's like a drop in the bucket. But there's a whole list of things that Mr. Galina has given to me. Simple example, the high school auditorium. It needs new lighting and sound. >> It needs a sound board to control the lighting. We're talking about $300,000. >> I'm sorry, but when we have potholes in our parking lots, I'm not going to recommend to you that we do LED lighting at the high school auditorium. I'm going to recommend to you we do our parking lots first. >> So, I saw we had like all the parking lots in the line by line and I know I'm jumping ahead a little bit, but I'm would be interested in talking more about what's in the capital funding because there were the contracts that were open that we could close
037and reallocating that money to and potentially creating a small capital project rather than putting all of this in. You're going to receive on April 15th a recommendation from us to approve a change order that would complete the first floor boys and girls gang bathrooms um using the allowances that are available in the middle school project. Uh which is something I understand you asked be prepared. We we've prepared it and we're going to recommend it to you on April 15th and that work would be done during the summer. That would leave $75,000 in those allowances. So >> in the current job, you're saying? >> Yes. >> But there was also other like historical jobs in the capital fund that the auditor was saying we could close and re maybe put up as a proposition to reallocate
038that money. So, I've been I asked that last year and I hope that we can talk about it this year because if there's so much that needs to be done, I completely agree. Let's try to do it, especially if there's money sitting there already in capital. Um so, but um should I just go I Chris went through all the pages, so I'll just keep going, I guess. >> No, just just let's just go to page four. >> Two, three, and four. Three, and four. Oh, that's what I meant. Two, three, and four. >> Um, >> okay. The summer bridges program, we've talked about it prior. Um, is there not summer school in the proposed budget for next summer or is there? >> There's uh summer school in the proposed budget for the high school. High
039school. >> Thank you. Oh, and >> and for extended school year, which is the 12 month that, you know, the extra two months of instruction for special needs children. >> Sure. Um the students for the summer bridges program, they would be selected. >> Our plan is to open it for all students moving into those grades. So, it would be for the whole grade level. It would be open and and they would choose to attend >> and it's set up to be able to accept everybody. >> Yes. >> Two weeks for each child, right? >> One week for each student. So it would run two oneweek sessions. >> Okay. >> We have room for 100 students for each of the oneweek sessions. So given the fact that there are about 250 children on a grade level,
040I assume there will be some children who would not be able to take advantage of it and we'd be able to accommodate the other 200 children by just selecting the right week for them to attend. >> Okay, I I'll stop for now. Okay, we're gonna keep going. No, I think I think the other thing that um and just kind of clarify this for me what we're looking at right now in terms of new for the budget is just something that you are providing to the board and one of the things that we can hopefully decide tonight maybe what are these things out of the new section that possibly we want to consider after we get finished going through um the line by line and the rest of the budget presentation. So, >> and they're in
041President Johnson, they are in the budget now, >> right? But then we decisions. If we want to, we can say, well, thank you so much for these new items, but we want to remove the following items from from the budget after we get finished sharing everything from you budget presentation. >> I have a question. >> Um, is the psychologist at the high school was that addition as a result of our um presentation about like the students needs? >> Yes, sir. Right. But I didn't identify it as a student initiative because we agree with you. I if if I identified it, I would say it's the superintendent and students together who are proposing this. All right. And thank you very much. We we we recognize that you're absolutely right that we're stretched. Our mental health staff
042is stretched and we really need to provide some assistance. On that note, I would also like to emphasize the need for like guidance when it comes to like post high school. So along with the psychologists, I I want to advocate for like students knowing what they're going to do when they come out of here and helping them take those steps. I think one of the ideas we have behind having a guidance lead is to take one of the counselors and have them serve as a resource for the other counselors um in terms of college placement in terms of work experience etc. So that's the idea behind guidance lead. >> I think that was one question actually that I wanted to ask but I forgot. Maybe we can get a little bit more information about the
043the role of a guidance lead like what would they be doing if not tonight then down the line because it has here um $4,000 a little bit more. So I I'm assuming that's a stipen. So if you can provide more information about what >> that's the stipen in accordance with the ATA contract. >> Okay. So we can get a better because it my my I guess my concern is that the guidance counselors are already I'm not going to say overwhelmed but they have a large case load. So would someone who takes on responsibility as a guidance lead would they actually have the time to do some of the things that that we're hearing from the students and some things that you guys may have recognized. So that's just my question. Would there be time for
044that individual to to actually do those things? So >> my expectation, Lisa, is that um and given the fact that the union president is not here, I can say this that if we pay a stipen that that person will be doing some work outside of the school hours. >> And just to expound a little bit and I'm going to ask Miss Stevens to do an extended comment. Ultimately, of course, we need a director of guidance, right? who can be really dedicated to the entire process of developing and preparing students for college and career and utilizing the tools that would enable and empower our students to put all of that information into the hub and make themselves more marketable for colleges as well as careers. As we know, New York State is moving to one diploma
045and so we are looking to um provide more robust support in the area of guidance. So, one of these first steps is to let's get a lead teacher who can begin to guide the processes of that in hopes that we will be able to eventually have a director so that we can have a more um patterned and systemic and structured approach to giving students a larger capacity of support. And so we have heard you all. As a matter of fact, this is another step from the conversations that you all have had about the level of support that you would appreciate in the high school. The one thing I would add to that is um as we move toward the portrait of a graduate and the seals and the changes for graduation requirements, it's an interdisiplinary
046approach and there needs to be representation in the conversation from guidance. So the guidance lead would be able to help with that communication in the core content areas and focusing on how to align the seals. >> Thank you. Um first vice president, did you have a question? >> Yes. >> Hello, Mr. Draone. How are you? >> I'm very well, Mr. Leon. And how are you? >> Good. Good. Excuse my tardiness. I was over at >> How was How was Streams? >> It it was actually very nice what what they did at the school. >> I'm glad. But I'm sorry that we're not there. >> Trust me, I'm very sorry that we're not there. >> Okay. Um well, with regards to this, I just want to take a bird's eye view, a macro look at this
047for a second. >> Uhhuh. >> So, from what what I understand is that from budget to budget, we're talking about a budget to budget increase, we're looking at 2.29%. Is that correct? >> That's correct. >> Okay. So at a presentation given to >> Can I just inter one second? So I just want to just ask a question of Mr. Done. Are we going to go over these things? >> I was planning on going through pages >> through those items first because we haven't done that yet and then you can you can ask those questions. >> I'm sure I'm sorry. That's it's unfair to you. You didn't know where we stopped. We stopped at page four. >> So if I could I'll I'll go through 5 through 12. Sure. >> Because that's exactly what I wanted
048to do. One, I wanted to give a bird's eyee view. Some people, if you look at page five, some people would stop at this page and say, "That's enough information for me. The budget is increasing 2.29%. That's within the the range of the cost of living increase and that would be the end of the presentation. However, >> so so Mr. Done, just a quick question and then if I have any additional questions, I'll ask you, but I see the budget to budget as 2.29%. I don't see the tax levy. >> No, you will. >> He's getting there. >> It's in the back. >> The tax levy is coming. Yes, it's in here. Yes. So after we look at that four line overview of the budget showing the increase from year to year, the next page
049breaks that same budget down into what we call functions. There are four major functions in a budget. They are general support which includes the work that I do, the work that Dr. Talbert does, the work that Mr. Galina does, um the work that Dr. Lando does, anything that starts with a one in the budget is general support. And you could see that that is increasing by 7.18% and it represents 10.4 47% of the budget. Instruction, which is by far the largest portion of our budget, is increasing by 3.61% and it represents 56% of our budget. Transportation um is self-explanatory. uh and undistributed. What undistributed means is those are expenses that are not allocated to a specific function like general support or instruction but are applied across the district. So, health insurance benefits for the superintendent
050and health insurance benefits for the teachers and health insurance benefits for the monitors are all in what we call undistributed. So, you'll see that that's a significant portion of the budget as well, about 20 23 and a quarter%. If you go to the next page, this is another way of dividing the budget up. Instead of by function, which really is purpose, the why of what we're spending, objects in the budget tell us what we're spending it on. The major objects of the budget are salaries, which represent 40% of this budget, and benefits, which represent 17% of this budget. Supplies and services includes tuition for students attending out of district schools, including charter schools. It includes Bosey's services. It includes textbooks, it includes building level supplies, etc. Equipment is increasing by a significant amount, 152%, but
051it's really only $228,000. So it's in terms of the overall budget, it's not uh a significant amount of money, but it is for equipment that we believe we desperately need. Replacement of custodial equipment that is worn out and not working anymore, etc. Interest is kind of self-explanatory, but some people get confused. We pay interest as well as um earn interest. We earn interest on the money that we have available that we put in the bank, but we're also paying interest on our debt. Principal is the the repayment directly of the debt. So principal and interest together are called debt service. benefits. Again, somewhat self-explanatory. It's part of the undistributed portion of the budget. By far, the largest portion of benefits is health insurance. Um, but there are lots of other benefits that we provide to
052our employees. For example, we contribute to the pension system on their behalf, teachers and employees retirement system of New York State. We provide dental insurance, life insurance, etc. And finally, transfers. We transfer money from the general fund to other funds during the course of the year. An example would be a transfer to the capital fund so that we can complete capital projects which must be accounted for in the capital fund. the next page. If I if I tried to teach you about all of the objects of expense, we'd be here for days. But I I thought I would select some just to give you some examples. So salaries in grades one through six represent $10.4 million of next year's budget, about 8.45%. Salaries in grades 7 through 12 represent about 12% of this budget. The
053cost of monitors, administrators, and supervisors, non-instructional staff, that includes custodians, clerical workers, um nurses, supplies, etc. supplies you'll see is uh significantly lower next year because I am sure that Mr. Snyder said to building principles as they started to put their budget together, sharpen your pencil. Make sure that you go into your supply closets and don't ask me to buy more pencils for you if you already have a lot of them in your closet. Um, a big number is charter schools. The cost for charter schools for next year is projected to be $1,940,000. That's based on current enrollment in charter schools. Um, it we are already exceeding the $1.7 million that's in this year's budget. So, we're projecting that that number will be higher. And I just pulled out health insurance just for the sake
054of letting you see what health insurance is costing us. Health insurance represents almost 10% of this budget. Now you may say why would it be going up only 1.78%. And the reason is because when I built the health insurance budget, I went person by person through the district and calculated the percentage that they pay for health insurance themselves and the percentage that we pay on their behalf and found that we had appropriated more money than was necessary in the past for health insurance. Many districts do that because they don't want to be caught short at the end of the year. I'm trying to present to you a budget that is more reflective of actual expenditures. It's dangerous for me to do that because we're not going to have a $3.247 247 million surplus at the
055end of next year as a result of my shaving this line. I want you to understand that. And that's one of the reasons why I'm concerned about applying more fund balance to balance the budget. We won't be able to replicate that in the future. The next page is just um to give you some idea. I know these questions have been asked in the past. Um this is how much money is allocated by location. Now, it's a little bit deceiving to say that it costs $3.3 million to operate Northeast because what's not included in that Northeast number is the cost of utilities, for example, gas, oil, water, electricity, which Mr. the Galina budgets on a district-wide basis and not a buildingby building basis. There's a simple reason for that. If we did it on a building
056bybuilding basis, we would be giving you transfers every other week, every other month because the the gas costs may increase, the electric cost may decrease, etc. And across buildings, they would be different. So, we budget it on a district-wide basis. And finally, St. Martins's. Um, the course at St. Martins is for the special education teacher and the nurse that we provide. You should know that as a result of our spending $178,000 at St. Martins's on staff. We also have the ability to bill back to those school districts outside of Amityville who send their children to St. Martins's. We build them for a proriter portion of the services that we're providing. Remember the discussion we had last week about health services. Okay. Page 10. Here we are, Mr. Leon. So, this is the revenue budget. And
057again, some people would look at this one page and say, "That's all I need to know." And make up their mind as to whether or not they're going to vote yes or no because the proposed property tax levy increase is 1.56%. Now, does that mean that each one of your tax bills will go up 1.56%? No, it doesn't. If you live in West Amityville, some people call it East Masipua. I call it West Amityville, you are subject to the Nassau County base proportions, which split the taxes between homeowners and businesses differently than we do here in Suffach County. In Suffach County, the taxes are spread evenly across all types of property. in Nassau County, that's not the case. Number one. Number two, if your neighbor files for a um certification that his or her home
058is worth less, well, they're going to pay less in taxes, but you are going to pay more because the county is required to collect all of the taxes we ask for. And some people will have to pay more. the tax rate may be higher than 1.56% because of what we call these certs taxerts. So the answer to your question, Mr. Leon, is yes. The levy increase is 1.56%. Now, I'd like to just for a moment tie that back to News Day. In News Day, the levy limit was reported as 2.23%. 23%. And that is exactly correct. And so is the 1.56%. Exactly correct. And here's how the two of them tie together. At some point in your recent past, you set the levy Amityville higher than would be allowed by the levy limit. You collected
059$474,000 approximately in taxes that the controller made a determination you were not allowed to collect. It was over the limit. It had something to do, forgive me, I don't know all of the details, but it had something to do with the energy performance contract that you did not approve because we were counting on the debt service from the energy performance contract to raise our levy limit and we levied a tax in accordance with that. then the EPC was not done and therefore our levy limit calculation had to be adjusted to reflect that. And so we now have $474,000 that we collected that the controller said you must put that in a reserve and you must return that $474,000 to the taxpayers in the next tax year. So you'll see that the budget for property taxes
060is 68,11,79. But in fact, we will have 68,480,000 in revenue because of the money that we're getting from the reserve that we already have. We already have that money in district. All right. So that's how the 1.56 and the 2.23 match up with each other. The other thing I would point out on this page is the total fund balance in reserves. Now I'm going to show you in a moment a chart that shows the history of the use of fund balance and reserves in our district. And you will notice in that chart that there were several years in which the amount of fund balance that was applied was significantly less than $3 million a year. In fact, two years in a row, it was zero. Those of you who were on the board when I
061was last here will remember one of the one of the objectives I had as your business official was to reduce the amount of reliance that we had on applied fund balance because when you apply fund balance if you don't replenish it the following year you're automatically raising your taxes because you don't have it in the reserves anymore. So if you drained every one of your reserves, you might be able to go out with 0% 1% 1 and a.5% tax levy increases for the next three or four years. And then when the reserves are gone, the increases will be 8% 9% 10%. So in good conscience as a business official, I cannot recommend that to you. I'm going to recommend that we look really long and hard at this budget and decide which things should be
062in the budget or not in the budget. I would also say to you and Megan's question was right on point. We're recommending to you what we think as a cabinet is needed. >> We're not recommending fluff. We're not recommending to you things that we don't think are needed to move this instructional program forward. We're not recommending that we give car allowances to everybody in the world or, you know, cell phones to everybody every year. We're not recommending any of that stuff. We're recommending what we think is needed to move this instructional program forward. You guys have to make the tough decision. It's easy for us to say what we think is needed. You live in this place. You live in this community. You're going to have to decide for yourselves what really is needed and
063what you think we can do without. So that being said, I've got two more pages and then all the questions in the world. >> Just just move your slide forward. >> Yes. I'm sorry. Oh, and I hadn't I said that whole thing and I hadn't slid. >> That's okay. >> Okay. Yo, you have it in front of you. I know. So, let me move one more slide. Um, you may ask I I think it will be a legitimate question to ask. What is this 4,824,175? Where does that come from? Because you know where state aid come from comes from. You know where property taxes come from and you know where fund balance and reserves come from. But you may not know what other local revenue is. So on this page I've given you a list
064of all of the items that make up local revenue which includes pilot payments that's payments in lie of taxes for buildings that have been granted exemptions by the IDA the industrial development authority. Tuition we receive from other districts for students who are attending our district. health services that we bill other districts for who send their children to St. Martins's or any other private school within our district. Interest in earnings, the interest that we earn on the money that is idle waiting to be paid out in the form of salaries, equipment, etc. Refunds for Bosey's services. Boseies is required by law to refund to us any money that they collected in the form of tuition payments that is not needed to run the program. They're not a profit-making organization. Boseies. So every year they do an
065analysis of all of the programs that they offer and they decide we collected a million dollars too much in this program. Let's redistribute it back to the 18 school districts who are components of Western Suffach Boseies. It's distributed back according to the resident weighted average daily attendance in each of the 18 districts. um prior year expenses uh piece. Sometimes we get money back uh for expenses that we incurred in the prior year that we determined we should not have incurred. Premium on obligations. When we issue tax anticipation notes, sometimes the people who buy our notes want to resell them on the open market. And in order to do that, they sometimes give us a premium so that they could set the coupon rate higher and make it more attractive for people to buy. So the
066going rate on municipal bonds may be 2%. If they want to get more than 2%. They give us more money than we've asked for in the form of a premium and then they charge the people who buy their bonds a higher rate to make it up. That's what premium is. other unclassified revenues. It's things like uh if an organization pays us to use our gym, our fields, Medicaid assistance is something that we're very focused on. Children who have special needs who are eligible for Medicaid, we can bill the Medicaid program for the occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy, counseling services, etc. that um they're receiving and we get a portion of the money that Medicaid would normally pay. And finally, there's a new line, library bond 2024 reimbursement, because the library issued bonds, well, excuse
067me, we issued bonds on behalf of the library with the understanding that they would put on their tax levy the principal and interest payments of those bonds. So this year it was 598,000 that we collected. Next year we're expecting 712,175. Don't get too excited because the debt service is also in our budget on the expenditure side. And last but not least, the real problem with fund balance and reserves. You'll notice that you had during the 2122 school year a brilliant business official who reduced your reliance on fund balance from 3 million to $1.4 million. And that continued in 2122. In 2223 23 24 this year 2526 we have $2,954,000 worth of this budget being covered by our savings accounts. That's higher than the past three years. It's almost as high as it was when I
068first came here in 2021. So, we've moved in the opposite direction of where I would like to be. Now, that being said, you're asking, I'm sure, well, why are you presenting a budget where we'd have to put $3.4 $4 million up. We're hoping tonight you give us some direction as to where we need to look to make sure um that we don't rely on fund balance as much. Uh as an example, both houses of the legislature have adopted what they call one house bills and each of them has proposed that state aid be increased not by 1% but by 2%. That alone would give us $310,000 more in state aid and therefore reduce our reliance on fund balance by $310,000. If we're lucky and we get additional funds from our legislators or from the state
069aid formula itself, we might be able to reduce the reliance even more. But we're also asking you tonight to make a decision about the expenditure lines in this budget and let us know where it is that you disagree with our priorities so we could come back with another revised proposal on April 15th. And also you have a meeting scheduled for April 21st at which time you must adopt the Boseis budget if you remember. So we really have two more shots at finalizing this budget. April 15th we'll come back based on the direction you give us tonight. April 21st we'll come back again based on the direction you give us that night. And then on April 21st, you must adopt the budget because on April 24th, we are required to submit what's called a property tax
070report card. It must be submitted 24 days prior to the budget vote, and it finalizes the budget, so to speak. It tells the state, "This is how much we're going to spend. This is how much we're collecting in taxes. Um, and that's in essence the drop dead date. So, April 21st is very fortuitous that that's the Bosey's budget meeting because it really pushes us right to the limit as to when we need to actually adopt this budget. And with that, I am done with my presentation and would be happy to answer any questions you have. >> No, go ahead. Go ahead. Okay, Mr. Draone, thank you. So, my my question which I was going to ask uh before was about the macro view of things. A lot of it you explained very well and I
071appreciate that. So according to your presentation, the property tax levy that is being proposed is 1.56%. Which represents just over $1 million. Okay. In October, we were told that we were carrying over $10.6 6 million. At the last board meeting, you projected, and again, I'm not holding it to you. I'm not holding you to it. You projected that we would have a surplus of somewhere in the ballpark of $2 to3 million. >> $3.2 million. >> Yep. >> Okay. So, $3.2 million and the $10.6 million. In my mind, I would think that if we wanted to, we could absorb the tax levy completely and have funds to spare. It would still be a budget-to-budget increase, figuring that $10.6 million, I know you weren't here for it, represents roughly 8% of that budget that was approved by
072the taxpayers. Mhm. >> So, there's many different opinions about this, but some people might feel that if there's a $10.6 million surplus, which represents 8% of the budget that went unused, was I overt taxed? >> Right. So, just to pick, you know, bring you back up to speed, we did inquire before you were here if those funds could be returned back to the taxpayers in the form of a rebate. We did research and because we have a complicated, not complicated, a unique tax system because we fall in both Nassau and Suffach County, Nassau had already set their levies. So we were unable to to issue that back. So the next best thing in my mind would be to hold the line and give a 0% tax levy increase which still is a very generous budget-to
073budget increase. Your thoughts? Yeah, my thoughts are that you would be headed towards a disaster. And the reason why I say that is that yes, you can do it next year. What about 2728 28 29 when you don't have the surplus that you're projecting? Now, by the way, the surplus is not $10 million because you're allowed to keep 4% of the budget >> in reserves >> in reserve in no in unassigned fund balance. So, that's $4.8 million right there. Now, we're talking about the difference between the 4.8 and the 10. So it's really and some of that money was put into reserves. So really what we're talking about is you're absolutely correct. Any business official who wants to make a name for himself can recommend to the board, let's return all the money we've got.
074Let's give them back the 4%. And as I've said often, the next thing that business official does is polish his resume because the following year, I do not want to be here when you say to the new business official, I don't understand why a tax is going up 10%. And the reason is because you don't have the $10 million anymore. So, I I disagree with the thought of setting the levy at zero on that basis alone. But let me give you more information. The $1 million levy that we're proposing be imposed next year, if not levied, will be lost not just next year, but every year thereafter for the rest of your life. This district will have a lower base by $1 million every year going forward. Not just next year, but the base on
075which the levy limit is calculated will be a million dollars lower. Do you think I'm passionate about this? Because I will tell you it would be a disaster, a big mistake for you to not levy at the limit this year so that you could provide the services that children need and start doing the capital work that needs to be done. If there's money left over at the end of the year, I would hope that we could take that money and put it into a capital reserve. We have one set up for $15 million. We've only put $2.5 million in it so far. Excuse me. $3.75 million in it because last month you appropriated from the grant, the $2 million grant, 1.25 to go into it as well. So, so far we've put 3.75 million into
076the capital reserve. The report we got from the architects says there's a hundred million dollars worth of work to be done. >> It would be, in my opinion, humble opinion, it would be a mistake. >> Well, I'm I'm Hold on. So, so Mr. Dron, and I think you understand this, there will always be more work that needs to be done Sure. >> than we have funds for. >> The job of the architect is to generate work for themselves. that that is why they're here. They want to plan. They want to design. They want us to build. It is a neverending cycle. If I could just gently push back a little bit. >> The architect did not put the mold in the basement of the high school. >> Can I >> He did not >> have
077the supports from the high school collapsing. >> All right. Well, anyway, m Miss M anyway, Mr. Done. The point the point I was trying to make is that according to News Day, there's also five other school districts that are proposing a 0% tax levy increase right now. >> Should those business officials polish their shoes? >> I don't know. If it if it was Jericho, I would say no because Jericho has a history of collecting more money than they need and therefore they're returning that money on an annual basis may allow them >> to issue a 0% levy. >> So Mr. Done, in that in that same light, I I again I'm not challenging you. I'm I'm asking you, I'm inquiring. >> I'm with you. >> Do do you The way some people also feel is
078that we approved a budget, underspent it by roughly 8%, had a 10.6 surplus, and it covered all of our needs. Okay, we made it through. Okay, some people might think, "Hey, I already paid this tax levy. >> I already paid it last year when there was a surplus." Again, like that example with Jericho. Maybe they overt tax. Now, now they're returning it. This could be a very similar situation where we collected more money than what we said was needed to run the district. The only fair thing if we can't give it back to them in their pockets is to hold the line. >> Right. So I just I just have and I know Megan's waiting to talk as well. Is there any back in 2020 when the um for that budget they went out for
0790% um tax levy? Not not now because we really want to go through the line by line. All right. But if you can provide information, you know, to the board, what was was there any impact? What was the difference back in 2020? If you're able to look at it when they did the zero 0% tax levy, where were we at? Do we have 10 million surplus? So, not not tonight, but provided to us we can share it at at the next board meeting. And was there any impact over the previous years in the um 202021 budget um 2122? Was there any impact from that zero tax levy in in 2020? not tonight because I I do want to go through the line by line a little bit more. Yeah, I I want to keep this
080moving. So, Megan had something that she wanted to ask. >> Um I don't know if it's that I want to ask, >> but I'm just scratching my head that why we have this in front of us as our present our proposed balanced budget at the end of March because it's not sustainable. What we see here is not sustainable. we can't afford it and we have we're proposing to use $3.4 million in our reserves to make it work. So to sit here and say, "Okay, board of education, you now go through and figure out what we can't afford." I would be looking instead at the cabinet to say, "Well, What is sustainable? Why are we deciding what's sustainable? We're the volunteers." So, we have on here $1.2 million if I calculated it correctly of new in
081the budget, 3.4 in reserves that we're using to make that work, and the 1.56% tax increase that one is arguing, which I tend to agree because we're going to end up with with $3 million hopefully in surplus. We're adding $3 million to the budget. It's just not making sense. What the proposal does not make sense. And I hear you, Mr. Jerome, because when I looked at this line by line, this was broken out to the utmost as compared to what we saw last year. And I said there's this is too tight. >> There's no surplus in here. So, what we have in front of us, I don't know where we start as a board of education, it seems like we can't just wait until April 15th. We should meet again. Um because we need to
082see something different proposed to us as a balanced budget. Um I would love to see that buildings report. I asked for it. I'm not sure if I got it yet. Um, I'm happy to see this information, the fund balance reserves, because I was asking for that. It's helpful. We, you know, in that final column there, the $8.8 million in unappropriate fund balance, but yet where we're going to use 2.9 of it. I'm not sure how that adds up because I it seems as though we're presenting that we're going to just use the excess of the 4% to balance this year's budget. Is that what is being >> Yeah. >> One of the things that you'll notice the 8.8 million that we have unassigned is really restricted to only 4.8 million because it should be no
083more than 4%. >> Understood. >> So we have $4 million. That's what I was the point I was trying to make before. One, it's not 10 million. It's $4 million that we have that is now in the unassigned fund balance that we need to do something with. Replenish the reserves that we hit in the past is one possibility. Return that money to the taxpayers in the form of applied fund balance is a second possibility. If you do, >> where is that $4 million going to come from the following year? >> Because >> So that's not what the 3.4 is that you're suggesting balances the budget. That's not from the unassigned fund balance. >> It could it could. Yes. Absolutely. >> Right. But >> so then it's not sustainable. >> Let's go to 2728. Exactly. In
0842728, we'd have to in order to not levy additional taxes to maintain the same program, we'd have to return another $3.4 million. And as you pointed out, Miss >> Mesman, >> we tried very hard to make this budget as tight as it could be >> by identifying every single staff member. and what their salary will be next year, what their longevity payments will be. >> Right >> now, people in the public, >> they have the same kind of document, but they do not have the names. >> Sure. Sure. >> Of staff members. >> Wouldn't be appropriate for me to share that. >> But they have the same information. You have information that shows you it is teacher by teacher, by secretary, by principal, you name it. For every benefit they get, for every salary perk
085that they get, whether it's longevity, base salary, etc. You're right. We've made this as tight as we can. the flexibility will come in that what I haven't accounted for yet is people who will be retiring and therefore will have some breakage we call it whose salary will be replaced by a lower paid person. What I also haven't accounted for is the board of education telling us this $1.2 million. No, I mean you could tell us that tonight. This is your district. It's not ours. We're making your We're making a recommendation to you as to what we think the children in this district need. >> You have to make the ultimate decision as to what this community can afford. >> Yeah. Take add not having the $1.2 million of new still leaves us with borrowing 2.2
086million from our reserves. Uh it it leaves you with Yes. Exactly. >> Yes. And le levying at >> going to the top of the tax cap still. >> Yes. Yes. >> That's exactly correct. >> So I again I don't know why we have it in front of us. I it's >> well I I look >> because I think the goal of our fiscal responsibility as trustees would be to get to a place where we don't have the volatility of the up and down and we are stable. So the wish list is certainly too much of a reach um if at all. I I don't know what we could afford. >> But I think there's certain aspects of it that we should we should look at and make a decision. I I do agree that whole
087it's a wish list but I also feel that there may be certain aspects of it that we do definitely need to you know to consider. >> So >> how how will it and also how would it impact us? And and I think also what's important with with the 0% um tax levy, I think it's something that we not tonight, but it really needs to be put up on on the screen so people not only the the board, but either community can understand that they can see that if we do a 0% we take from here, whatever the the things the steps that we would do, what would be the impact? What what would be the benefit for this year if we did it? If we can't do it this year, if we did it next
088year, what would be the impact and how would we be able to sustain it with the money that we currently have? I I think we have I think it would help people to understand either yeah, as a as a board you need to do it or no, please don't do it. That's just my perspective because we keep talking about it, but I think people would benefit from actually seeing what that would look like. >> I think that's what I'm saying with just understanding what's the contractual increases each year. what are we obligated to increase the the budget the expenditures each year. So you can see the if the negative trickle down or not of what the percent tax increase is going out like one or two years. So the answer to your question is the
089the budget rolling over the budget and just allowing for contractuallymandated increases would basically be $1.2 million less. Take all the items that we've identified as new staff. There's about I don't know 12 new staff members that we put into this budget. >> Take them out and that's what a roll forward budget would look like. But we don't think >> but then to Lisa's point like what is it the following year then so then we can understand better >> what do we actually need to run the district >> that's where I keep you know that's what I mean by that like if we need a 1% tax le levy increase then that's what I want to know so that we know the following year right like >> yeah absolutely I would second because that we also
090have to look at maintain how can we also can >> okay I'll speak to you Miss Johnson >> thank that's fine thank you because I was talking as well so I think it's also how how can we continue if we did if we did something like that right then for example what about the capital projects in our district how do we make sure that we put money into th into that area so therefore the structures of our buildings don't continue to go down because that's some of the problems that we don't look at. We don't look at we keep putting band-aids on on our district. That's number one. Number two, if we just rolled over hypothetically and did 0%. How do we continue to maybe improve our our the performance of our students within our
091district? How do we work on improving them academically? There are certain things in here that maybe that's presented as a possibility with the 1.2, too, but what are some of the things that we do need that can help our students to continue to move forward to improve the academics of our students within our district? So, to me, it's a combination of both. >> No, I'm not arguing what makes sense for the students, but to be able to make a fiscal decision, we need to see it out a few years because we're in a bad place where we're suggesting to use $3.4 million in reserves to balance the budget. No. So, what makes sense? Oh, is it do we need to get to a zero that we're using of the reserves? That's what we need to
092get to. Then, how do we get there? >> No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That's a goal. >> Okay. >> It would be that to reduce your reliance on applied fund balance. It would be impossible to build a budget where the revenues and the expenditures are exactly the same. And therefore you just roll forward every year >> with an increase in expenditures matched by exactly the same increase in revenue can't happen. No no no business official can build a budget like that for you. Okay. >> For a variety of reasons. >> Okay. But so again like but what's our goal and what's what's sustainable and what do you really need to anyway? I've said it. Go on. >> Let me just let me off. >> No no it's okay. Go ahead. I mean, every year over
093me >> this year, but at least your wife lets you talk, right? >> Sometimes. >> Um, this year we're projecting a $3.2 million fund um under expenditure of our budget. >> Understood. >> If you took that full $3.2 2 million and returned it to taxpayers in the form of applied fund balance. You would reduce the $3.4 million to $200,000. I'm not suggesting that. >> But how can you do that if you don't close the books? like we don't know what the surplus is until >> you you know that I am going to make another fund balance estimate on March 31st when we've closed the books for the month of March >> and I'm going to make another one in April and right now my best estimate is that we're going to have $3.2 million unexpended.
094So for next year, we're okay. The following year, if I've built this budget as tightly as you've noticed, you won't have $3.2 million left over and then you'll need to make some tough decisions. >> Well, so I don't want to be in that position. >> I I'm with you. >> That's what I don't like. We don't want to set ourselves up to have to cut $3.5 million next year. So that's Yeah. So, so Mr. Draone, I I just wanted to go back to um a request I had made from you at the last meeting, and that was when you present this budget to us, can you present a 0% tax levy increase option to the board? I don't see one here tonight. So the and and the reason why I asked for that is because
095I wanted to like like what Trusty Mesman said, I wanted to see what our built-in expenses and projections are already without adding in anything from the wish list. It doesn't mean that we can't work them in, but I wanted to see if we if we went forward with what we had last year, which, you know, some some spots were tough and some some weren't, but don't forget we're working with a $10.6 million surplus. So there there still is a way in my opinion, and you can tell me otherwise, that we can still fund the reserves and still apply $1 million to the tax levy. I'm I'm just reminding you that when you set the levy at zero, you are losing that revenue. >> You're losing the exponential growth, >> not the exponential growth. You're use
096losing that revenue every year for the rest of the life of this district. Every single year. I cannot recommend to you any more heartily that you set the levy at the limit. You've got a $100 million worth of work to do. Even assuming for a moment that the architect put in some things that are nice to have and not necessary, you still have $60 million worth of work to do. You could lose $60 million over the next few years if you set the levy at zero. >> Well, Mr. Draone, I think I think you understand this as well. for major major projects like that such as the bond that was passed um which was a multi-million dollar bond. No school but no school districts carry in their budget the kind of money to do those
097kind of repairs. >> Right? >> That's why they go out for bond. We could and if we put out a hundred million dollar bond and got all of the work done, we'd be spending 124 million a year in debt service. >> I I I I understand that, but we still don't have a good focus of what needs to get done and and what priorities we want for the district and if there's any other restructuring or anything like that. Mhm. >> It that's why I wanted to talk to you in just macro terms in in in big terms. Again, $10.6 million surplus. Roughly 8% of the budget unused. This year's tax levy was paid in advance. Could I just suggest that we use $4 million? >> Right. because we have $4 million more in unassigned fund
098balance than we're allowed to keep. The $10 million should have been placed in reserves last year. It wasn't. So, yes, we had a $10 million under expenditure, but the result was we have $4 million more in unassigned fund balance than we should have. That's the surplus, not 10. >> So, we have 4% funding these funds to their max allowable limit, state allowable limit. >> Right. >> We have four four million in excess. >> Correct. >> Okay, that's understood. I continue to say 10.6 because that's what was presented to the board. It wasn't you. It was your predecessor, >> but that's what was presented. >> Right. >> I hear you. >> Now it's clarified. >> I know. Listen, I know that this is not easy for you and you guys are experts to understand. Imagine what
099the community is is thinking about when they hear this and they hear $10 million surplus and it's not. It's $4 million. >> And we have to encourage people to think rationally about it. We have $4 million more in our unassigned fund balance than we're allowed by law. We don't have a $10 million bank account. M >> M Mr. Draone, I I understand that, but also it was presented to us $10.6 million because that was the difference between the voter approved budget and actuals. That's what was unused. So I'm I just refer you to your auditor's financial statement which shows that the unassigned fund balance is 7.9% as opposed to 4% of the subsequent year's budget. That 4% represents a 3.9% represents a little over $4 million. It's not $10 million. >> So, at this point
100in time, I just have a question as a board. Um, after getting the budget, do we want to go through the line by line? Do we want to make any recommendations? Because that's that's the question that that I have. Do we want Joe to go? >> I can't. >> Can I just ask one more question that could maybe be answered as we do the line by line? >> Um, of the proposed >> of the proposed budget, how much of that could be one-time expenditures that is not expected to come across the following year? >> Great question. Everything in the equipment line, of course, is a one-time expense. Everything in the equipment line. But that is but that's a very >> but I'm sure there's and I'm sure there's also an amount that is expected to
101be other equipment the following year to some extent. >> Yes. >> So expecting that there will still be an amount in there. >> There's also a number of items in Mr. Galina's building repair budget that are one-time expenditures. If we repair the parking lot at Northeast or Park Avenue, I forgotten which one. >> All of them. They're all in here. >> Yeah. Well, the ones that are in there are the ones with a T next to them. If they have an F next to them, that means false, not included in the budget. >> I'm sorry. Can you say that again? F. >> Every item in this budget, in the line by line budget, has either a T or an F. >> Most of them are T, >> meaning they're included. They're true. is included in
102the budget. >> Okay. >> But there are other items that we put in the budget for your review, for your knowledge, >> okay, >> that are not included. >> If we saw something that was a higher priority maybe in our opinion, >> yes, if you saw if you see something that's marked as an F, meaning it's not included in the budget, and you said, "Oh, no. We've got to do that." >> Right. Right. we would then have to find something else to pull out of the budget in order to accommodate that. >> So, Trusty Mesman, I'm assuming that uh in prior budgets you didn't see all of those FS. >> No. No. So when I first got here and uh I was given the report of the prior year's budget, I saw what my predecessor
103had put in for and we'll use Miss Bati as an example. She alone took all those things out and didn't even present them to you. And so what I had spoken to uh Mr. Snyder and Mr. I think you need to see what we are proposing so you can see what we're we didn't even give you a chance to turn it down, but you also need to see what this district needs. >> And so let's use the uh high school's uh auditorium sound system, for example. It's uh $320,000. It desperately needs to be done. >> And also, Mr. Leone, I agree with you as far as architects. I can't stand them. They are a necessary evil. they protect us from liability when they design things and stuff. And yeah, maybe that $101,000 isn't necessarily 101.
104But what I also noticed is in the past budgets when uh the um the certain jobs that were proposed that you said yay or nay to all these other things, even though the former director proposed them, they never even reached your eyes. I want you to see all of the things that we feel need to be done that aren't even getting proposed, that are not even uh being put before you to decide upon. So I said it's important to show them, but just like Mr. Degrron pointed out to be realistic in this budget, he's he and the cabinet and myself said these are the ones we absolutely want to do, but these other things these other needs still exist. >> Is this like Oh, I'm sorry. No, we've never seen a budget like We've never
105seen a budget presentation like this, you know, with all itemiz everything on it. I mean, >> well, we have, but we haven't seen the FS and T's. You mean >> we never saw Right. >> I think in the past >> then last year. >> You did see staff members, did you not? >> No staff members. You didn't >> everything. No, we've never seen that. >> No. Okay. >> And you down things that >> Well, that's That's why I'm sorry I that's why I asked for some more time because I think that this is the appropriate way to present the budget to you. >> Oh, thank you. >> So that you could see how it was built. >> So >> can I ask Mr. Gle? Oh go ahead. >> No, go ahead. >> This what you
106included in here for the minor building repairs >> was the highest priority out of the H2M report because we didn't see the H2M report. So, so what I included in there were things that I thought I could do with the general budget. >> There's a lot of things that I can't do with the capital. >> Most of theirs is more capital. >> Way more capital for and and I'm just going to give you one example because I don't want to paint it as >> but the roofs on all of the buildings >> uh in Amityville School District are all coming up to warranty. Uh usually they're given uh 20 to 25 years and there's two roofs that maybe have like 18 years of the 20 and there are roofs that are over. >> Each roof
107is going to cost like $1.5 to $2 million that I cannot even begin to address with the general budget. I wouldn't ask you to do that. >> And you know I know about the death service here. So it's not even something that I would put in front of you. However, you do need to know that these things will eventually need to be addressed because you're going to have leaking. you know, you're going to have leaking in the buildings, which is going to lead to other problems, other expenses. So, even though yes, we're looking for a sustainable budget, we still need to be realistic and say we have to upgrade the facilities. You can't keep ignoring it year after year. >> Okay. No, I >> I know you're not. I'm not questioning that. I um I
108would love the board to have a presentation by H2M with Mr. hereated >> the findings >> from the 5-year >> building condition survey. >> So what I will say is I just got the initial report of the 5-year and now I'm working with the architects to basically uh put it into four different categories. Uh it would be bond EPC maintenance in general >> and so try and break all that money out over five years. Now is it realistic to say that we can absorb $101 million worth of projects? No, it's not. but we can knock off a couple of big ones because I know that there are areas that you can see with your own eyes around the district that have been neglected that really need to be shored up. >> So, just for just
109for clarification, um what you have identified on pages 2, three, and four in terms of what's new in the budget, that's already existing in here. You just pul you just pulled them out for us. I just pulled it out so that you could see what items we're suggesting need to be added to the budget in order for us to meet the needs of children. >> So, they're they're here, >> but they but they're not included in the budget, but to identify which these items potentially should be part of the budget. >> Um, and I I just kind of feel like >> at least the the accountant needs to be be there, the purchasing agent needs to be there. This just my perspective on it. The district clerk backed the full time. Um to honor the
110students something with the meditation room and the night custodian just to kind of see what it looks like. And then I don't know I got to look at a little bit more but maybe instructional coach building level leaders and reinstatement of high school chairperson. I think my as I'm saying this, my biggest concern is um and I think someone has already said it, the sustainability. What I would hate to see is, let's just take the psychologist on page four, that if we hired a psychologist, hypothetically, if we hired um an instructional coach, hypothetically, if we hired um I'll just put athletic trainer um hypothetically, can we sustain the these positions? Because I would hate to go out to hire them and then turn around in next year's budget, well, guess what? We we can't afford
111it. So it's to me it's looking at the things that are here that's new in the budget. What are some of the most I think everything is needed but what is really really needed to help us in the district and I really think the purchasing agent the accountant is something that definitely is needed that's defin definitely needed and even the night custodian because we're paying overtime for that. There's other stuff that's needed as well but that's just in the district clerk full-time. Those are the things that I'm looking at. But then again, it doesn't address the academic aspect of of the needs of our kids. So that's my other biggest concern. So I do want to say mandated expenses presented under what's new would include the teacher for class in district. That was a cse
112decision. Speech teacher for services. CSSE decision. psychologist is needed for some mandated services and in response to the uh mental, health, social services that are needed as well. But that psychologist would if it was to be cut would have to be at least 0.5. So of what has been presented, those are mandated services that would need to be honored. So, so Mr. Galina, >> sir, >> again, we mentioned the high school sound system. >> Just just so you know, we've been mentioning it for years. >> I'm aware >> that was part of the discussion when this board, this well different board decided to do the bond. >> Okay, that's one of the things that was cut from the bond. Okay. >> Because we wanted to make sure, you know, we we assessed our needs. You
113know, we would love to have a sound system and there's a whole bunch of other things we would love to have. >> I completely understand. >> Right. There's there's more needs than what we have money for. >> I agree >> that that's just the way it is. We have to realize that even in our own homes, our own lives, whatever. Same same thing with the with the bond, too. Do you know that there was discussion to have a a pool put in at the high school, a community pool? >> I was not aware >> that that was also part of the discussion which was ultimately axed off that >> probably a smart thing to do to ax that. >> Right. So that you know until we trimmed it down and we got to that number
114of $69.9 million which Dr. Done knows very well because he looks at the the debt service and everything else like that. So, the point I'm trying to make is that there are always, always, always going to be more needs than what we have money for. I want to see what we need, >> okay? >> What we need. Uh, I agree with you 100% and I'm telling you that what we need is to upgrade the infrastructure of the facilities because it hasn't been done on a regular basis for many, many years here. And that's not I'm not trying to throw anybody under the bus. I'm not trying to blame anyone, but I know, for example, the new edict by New York State to uh uh the new temperature law 88 degrees. We want air conditioning everywhere.
115That's a very expensive proposition. When we have infrastructure that's 10, 15 years old, that needs to be replaced. So, when I ask for an allowance to do it and I don't get it, what do I tell that teacher who's in a room that doesn't have air conditioning? And again, that's my cross to bear. Well, I I I I don't I don't think I don't think we've ever denied a teacher air conditioning, especially if there's a medical necessity. >> I'm not saying you didn't deny them, but when I have equipment that breaks and I don't have the ability to fix it because it's not within my budget, I have to make tough decisions and sometimes say I can't and some people don't want to hear I can't. And so, I will always champion the facilities. Again,
116I do not envy your position, any of your positions. It's very very difficult to make the decisions because you're not trying to say no to the community. You're trying to be fiscally responsible. But the realities are this district needs to look at the facilities and and really like doc uh Mr. Done was trying to say is put in a reserve so that we are we are putting money towards them to begin to improve them. We haven't even begun. And so one of the recommendations that he said was that fund balance should have went into the capital reserve. So, if we had $4,000, $5,000 in the capital reserve and then we fix something and we get state aid on it million. I'm sorry. Thank you very much. >> I I knew what I meant. $2,000. >>
117You know what I'm saying? Then we're knocking off understand >> 5%. I got it. And >> we don't have to ask the voters for that. We don't have to ask put a voter proposition and move the >> No, you actually did ask the voters in May of 2022 for the authority to establish the capital reserve. >> Okay. >> For a period of 15 years, a maximum amount of $15 million >> with a maximum contribution on an annual basis of $2.5 million. >> Okay. So, we >> you've already gotten that authorization. So, we could move $2.5 million >> Per year. All right. Um, so I just want to say something um just quickly because I don't really want to go line by line. I have a couple of things, but I don't need to go page
118by page by page. I want to understand how the student performance has been analyzed and how these recommendations were determined. as far as the instructional coach, the building level leaders and how if we go forward with them, we can measure the effectiveness of anything new that we add in. I would I want a measurable goal. Uh if we end up deciding that the district can afford to add anything new with the purpose of improving student achievement. So, I'm not going to sit here and decide on my own and or try to guess which one of them is the most important, but to actually see a a summary to the board of education as to how did you get to these recommendations? What point made you determine this as your recommendation and how can we monitor
119it going forward so that we know that it's an effective role? I I think I would what I what I would also add on there is making sure that if it was something that we if that was all provi pro provided I think more important for me is also the the sustainability of the position because you can we can say it's going to be monitored but then if it's in if it's approved this year but it's pulled out next year or the year after then it's not we're not going to know how effective it was. It may take a couple years. So I hear what you're saying. I don't I don't disagree, but I think is as we're making this decision, there's also hopefully a commitment >> that if that if information is provided, then
120we can also be able to see most importantly the sustainability because they're going to have to stay here. It's not going to change in in one year. And I think that's to me that's what's most important. I guess the only thing that I would say is that if the community saw the academics improving and we had to say this is because we added X Y and Z role and it's working and here's the proof that it's working. People would get behind the tax increase. I truly believe that. >> And that's that's what I'm saying. I don't disagree with what you're stating, but what I'm saying is that we can't have it one year and then pull it out the next year because >> I I understand. I just moved. >> Well, we did hire a
121director of guidance a few years ago and then we had to cut, >> right? >> So, that was a >> right and we had like we had chairpersons and we had to pull them back when we had um >> we had all these positions before somewhat and then we had to pull them out because of the financial um situation that we were in. So, it's all about that sustainability. So, um you know, Dr. Tab, I just I know you want to say something. I I don't mind doing a general overview on on the sections, but I know last year we did page by page by page. I can't please let's not go that way, that direction on line by line. That's number one. >> No, I don't think anyone wants to be here to 12:00.
122But I think also too, more importantly, is what do does the board want to go forward with some more information from Joe? Are we looking to make any type of decisions at all tonight? Because that was sort of the the focus behind it. Are we willing to say that can you keep this in the budget because we want to see what this is going to look like? Because if if we're not willing to make any decisions tonight, like I said, there's a couple things I would love to see to stay in. But other people not willing to make some type of decision so they know how to plan moving forward because the next presentation that they give us is going to be a proposed budget. And if we need if people are saying that we
123need to meet again then that's something that we have to think about in order to get to what we want. We had a transition here with the finance person. So we we lost some time. So we need to make a decision. Are we at least willing to say with some guidance, can you keep these in to see what it looks like and then come have it come back? We already mentioned about the 0% tax levy. What would that look like over a couple years? So therefore we can come back more informed. So there's a number of things that we've asked for. So my question from the board education, what are the next steps for tonight? That's my question. So if you want to start from Leslie, do you have any sort of perspective next steps
124for tonight? Do you want to hear the rest of what Mr. >> Well, I definitely don't want to come on but I mean this is >> to speak more into the mic. >> Oh, sorry. This is very comprehensible. I I didn't comprehensive. I didn't realize the T and the F and that makes so much more sense to me. I was like, "Oh my gosh, it would be great if that was all in there." But >> yeah, and that was thought we would go through that and eliminate things, but now I see there's a huge chunk that is not in the >> Already did that and and most of the Fs are in his code. >> I understand that. Okay. Okay. Uh, Megan, >> um, I just I'm flipping through my notes here. I did want
125to just ask quickly the charter schools. What did you how did you assume the increase? Is it based on >> the >> transportation forms of who's going where next year or how is it? >> No, we looked at the actual enrollment in charter schools as of today. >> Okay. >> And it is higher than was budgeted last year. Last year I think that we budgeted for >> and this year we are paying for 81. >> So we use the 81 students >> um to come up with the $1.94 million in tuition that we expect we're going to have to pay in 2627. That could be lower >> if ch if children come back. So >> it could also be higher. >> Yes. >> So yeah. So in that vein I would increase that number. >>
126I would I would increase that number. >> I because we didn't I think the last year we were not the last two years we were not on target with that >> and we were paying for extra children that we did not students that we did not anticipate. Right. >> So it may want you may want to go higher. That's true. >> So I'll tell you another area that you guys and you could make this decision. Um, I kind of made it for you, but >> I've estimated that health insurance costs will increase by 10%. >> We we need to prepare for that >> come January 1st. Um, I think that that's a safe projection. >> It may actually be a more generous projection than is necessary because this year it was 8.9%. Okay. >> Not
127going to save much, but if you wanted me to lower the projected increase in health insurance, >> not me anyway. >> I'd rather you say at the 10. >> I I'm trying to I'm trying to offer areas in which >> I have built in for you >> some consensation either. but we haven't had it. >> You're going to receive um in this week's news and notes a rather extensive study done by Nate in which he estimates what the cost of what I'm calling now options four and five are they are both more expensive. Option four, we consider K to two at half, 3 to 8 at 1, 9 to 12 at one and a half. I'm looking to Nate. Did I say that right? >> So, this would be more than what you have in
128the budget. >> 335,000. >> Okay. And the other one was K to five at half a mile, 6 to 8 at one mile, 9 to 12 at a mile and a half. Now the advantage to that to one's request, not a single student loses service. Every student gets the same service or better next year compared to this year. The cost is $85,000 >> and we and so now you have five options. >> Wait, hold on. Joe, in in the budget that you are discussing tonight, how did you >> No change. >> How did you put in the line? No change from last year. Correct. Right now it's K to three half a mile 4 to six one mile 7 to 12 mile and a half. That is $7,183,000 worth of contract services. And we've now
129presented to that we call that option one. We've now presented to you four other options. One of which would reduce costs by 200,000 but would decrease services because children in grade three would not get service. I've forgotten. Okay, you remember. >> All right. But anyway, my my my my point is this and I'm not sure if we can take care of this tonight. Um, I think my opinion, just me, is that we keep the busing the way it is. We already exceed what New York State expects from us. We are trying to find balance from year to year in the budget. We are coming off some very tough years followed by a record surplus. Let's before we start piling and adding things on, let's keep it flat. Let's keep it where it is. >> I'm
130I'm good with that. If the board if that's the board's direction, >> if that's what the board would like, we can move on to something else. >> I'm fine. I'm fine with that. >> It's going to come in the Friday memo. >> I'm not not ready to commit. I just want to see what has to say and then I'll be able to say it the next. >> So then my my comment regarding what we would like to see Mr. Draon I think you understand where I come from. I don't know how I mean I I think Megan and I feel the same that we would like to view a 0% tax levy increase budget. One that is I know you may not like it but one that is most responsible. So I I can give
131it to you right now. >> No, no, no. I don't want it right now. >> Brain your reserves. >> That's No, no, no. But that's not what I'm asking to do. >> What are you asking to do? To reduce the budget, >> the expenditure budget. Tell me where you want to make the reductions and we'll do it. >> Find find the million dollars that you want to cut out of the budget and we'll do it. >> Right. >> I It's that's a decision that the board needs to make. What is the service that you want to provide to the children? We're recommending to you this budget because we believe it provides the services that your children need. >> These are not our children. These are your children. >> But you're also saying that it's not
132really sustainable, right? >> Let me let me do this. >> There's a balance. >> Let me let me make this suggestion to you. Let me go back with the cabinet members >> and take a hard look at some of the expenses that we've estimated, >> take into consideration the possibility that state aid will increase by 300,000, right? And project not just for next year, but project two or three years in the future of what this budget would look like. >> Yes. with 1.56% tax levy this year going forward, what would it look like? Would we be able to sustain it? That's your question, right? >> With the contractual Yeah. with Well, we're obligated. Yes. Like, how does that >> I think that that's a very appropriate question for you to ask. Yeah. >> I cannot
133one in good conscience, >> I cannot recommend to you that you set the levy at zero. It is irresponsible, >> right? >> It is going to be a disaster for this community and I don't want that to be your legacy. >> I'm not worried about my legacy, Joe. But when we had that $10.6 million surplus, >> $4.8 million surplus >> when when there was a difference of the approved taxpayer budget and it was less $10.6 million. Did I say that appropriately? >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you. So, when that took place and we saw where that those savings had come from, we had seen cuts to special education. We had seen cuts to maintenance things, maintenance, important maintenance that was cut down the road that was cut. We saw um in just about any other
134line >> cut in overtime. >> Cuts in overtime everywhere. It it it was major major cuts. >> So, it's never going to be like that again because we're actually coming back to it. But what what we're trying to do or what I think you're trying to do is come back to the level before that cut and go forward a little bit. But what I'm Yes. But what I'm saying is by us with that with that uh $10.6 million How would you explain it? re expenditures under appropriations >> under appropriations. That's our cushion. That's our cushion to bring some of those things back that we haven't that we did without. We can do that and fund the re um the uh reserve balances at at the 4% level and and and cut down the the zero,
135you know, cut down tax levy to zero. We could and it would be and it would be an increase from the year before and I think I said that previously. >> I think I think >> Okay, go ahead. >> I think also what would be helpful is is this um especially in a in a public session cuz we we got about the 10.6 million. We're talking about 4.8. So when it if people hear that the 10.6 six, they may feel that there's this money that's floating around that we're kind of holding on to. So, I think there needs to be better clarity on that 10.6. >> Where is it? What happened to it? Is it still in existence? You know, I I think that that needs to be clarified. I think that's step, you know,
136number one. Um, I think that the next thing, and I did mention it before, when it comes to the 0% tax levy, I think it's just really providing to the public and to the entire board, like what would that look like at at 0%. Um, because our tax levy for this year is already set or we have not set it for this year because we So, let's say hypothetically, what would it look like for this year if we did 0%. I'm just I think people need to see it up on on the screen. What would look like a 0% what would look like um next year um for what will we have to do to to have that 0% tax levy? I think that needs to be seen as well as the the 10.6 wherever
137that 10.6 is for for clarity for everyone. That way everyone is informed and we have an understanding. knowing also what right now what do we if we didn't ask for anything else what would that budget look like if we didn't ask for anything else at all what would that budget look like so I think was I think that would help everyone in their clarity and in making a decision because when I go to make my decision and you know 0% 1.56 two I'm just throwing out numbers for the tax levy I want to make sure I'm making an informed decision I strongly feel that there are certain things that we do need to put back in here, but I want to make sure that it's going to be sustained, >> that it's not going to
138be a oneshot deal, and then two years down the road, we have to now take it out because we're in in a particular situation. We when we were in that situation, when we all walked into that particular situation, we there were things that we had to do in order to not keep not have the blood still flowing out. We had to we had to do that. So I think for me >> that's that's what's important. We had to take certain steps. We did those steps and then the next budget was was done >> and when the next budget was done for the following year there were certain things that that were done for hopefully to minimize any more deficit but also increase what we had. So moving forward in my opinion the 10.6 better clarity
139on that. >> Mhm. the 0% for a tax levy. We did it for this year. What would it look like for this year? What will look like for next year and the year after what? So therefore, we're all informed. We can make we can make decision. That's just my opinion. >> So Lisa, I'm sorry. Just one final comment and that and and then I'm done for today. I don't have adequate questions yet because we received the digital copy digital copy of this on Tuesday and we received the hard copy yesterday. So, I haven't had a time to digest it. I will go line by line, but I'm not going to do it on your time. I'll do it on mine and then I'll come back with adequate questions. >> And and I think and and
140everyone's right. I think we're all in the same position. one. None of us really had to do had an opportunity to do it extensively. But I also just also want to acknowledge that with Mr. Done, he's coming in here. He's been here what, two weeks, I think, now? >> Three weeks now. So, he had to come in, look at everything, and present to us information that he could stand behind. So, none of us had really had an opportunity to go into detail. So, as a board, we may have to, you know, consider meeting again because I think our next meeting is April 15th and then we have a meeting on the 21st. So, there there may have to be another meeting between the 15th and the 21st. So, therefore, we can definitely address all these
141things that we everyone has on their mind. >> President Johnson, can I ask a question? Um, this is a detailed question going back to page eight, but I I need the information moving forward to make a decision. As far as the teaching assistance, there's a 2.6% increase. How does that translate into the exact amount of teaching assistance? >> I don't remember how many teaching I know we added some teaching assistants for existing programs. Did we add one for the special class? >> Right. Was it assistant or an aid? So that that includes a new assistance for that class. >> Thank you. So my next question is I'm just going to focus on first grade right now. >> How long is a teaching assistant in a classroom in first grade per day? >> I I that's
142not a question for me. I'm sorry. >> Right. So, Miss Stevens can respond, but that varies because they're not assigned to the class full-time, >> right? So, it's approximately a half of a day for each class. >> Okay. So, when you say approximately, is it >> most of the time a half a day or is it possibly in some days only an hour? So really what I'm getting at is there enough coverage for small groupoup instruction with the TA in the classroom. >> So that is why it varies that um they are striving to make sure that everyone has the opportunity especially at Northwestern Park they're prioritizing small groupoup instruction. Um, so it may not be every day that there's a half hour if that's the way they're able to balance it to meet the
143instructional needs, but on a grade level they're able to cover um little reading groups so that there's no other distractions in the classroom. >> They are able to do that. Okay, great. And Mr. Galina, your point is very well taken. Yes, a board has to be fiscally responsible, but they also have to make sure that a crumbling infrastructure is addressed. If not, it's just going to continue to compound. We are sitting in a building where that happened many, many years ago. We also can look at the old area of the high school where it happened and that in the long run cost the taxpayer more money. So yes, it absolutely has to be addressed. Thank you. >> Any other >> Yeah. So >> no maker has been waiting. So then >> I'm sorry, Chris. I
144I'm quick. I because we were we were originally making our way down the table as far as next steps. So I just want to close my thought. Um and I did also just quickly want to understand the TANS like the TANS is reduced to $450,000. How are we making that because of the unassigned fund balance? Is that >> No, unfortunately, um, it's because the interest rates we're anticipating will be lower this year than they were last year. The general economic climate says that we're going to be paying a smaller interest rate on our tans. >> Okay. Okay. So, how comfortable do you feel with the projection that you're serving here? very >> very comfortable. Um, as far Thank you. Um, as far as next steps, I think I would like to meet preferably before the
14515th since I think the 15th then we're saying that we have to adopt the budget the following week. Um, so >> yeah, the the drop dead date, so to speak, is April 21st because we need to file the property tax report card by April 24th. I would say um let's everyone look at the calendars and then that way we can um this >> yeah we have break coming up let's look at the calendars and see what everyone could possibly do >> whether it's the 15th we have the board meeting then we have another meeting after that so I think let's >> everyone look at the calendars and we can we can go from there in terms of meeting again which the focus would just be for for the budget >> thank you >> and then
146and then so let's look at calendars Any other comments? Not not right now. Look at calendars. I'm just >> uh yeah, two questions. One is on the natural gas and the fuel oil line. I see the there was a slight increase in the natural gas and the fuel oil actually went down and I'm seeing as everybody the fuel prices are skyrocketing. How were we able to handle those amounts? >> I would guess that Mr. Galina put that number in the budget before the war in Iran started. >> Okay. >> Not only that, we don't have a lot of areas in the district that are relying on fuel oil were mostly gas. So, the projections for oil in past years may have been a little high and that's one of the areas that both Mr. Snyder
147and Mr. Degrron recognized and so they lowered those lines. >> Okay. So we feel the natural and I I mean the fuel oil that's a low number. It's only 2,700, >> but the natural gas is almost 400,000. Are we expecting that that will go well above that? >> I I know it also depends how long this war goes on for. >> So there's projected increases in in gas pricing and so we do our best guesstimate to cover those increases. We don't know exactly what they are. Um, I can't give you the answer on what that projection is, but I can the next time I speak to you. >> Okay. >> Thank you. This next question will be for you also. >> Okay. Great. >> Um, back to the Park Avenue playground flooring. I think that's
148the hip surface for playground. >> And if you notice, it's an N. So, we weren't actually suggesting to do it this year in the budget, which is which is why I created the line for the five bar to uh basically refresh the surfacing. So, seeing as that is restricting, it's not ADA compliant and it's restricting the access to some students to use the playground, >> I would I know this is the opposite direction that we're going. I would like to see that in the budget. >> Okay. So, >> um I again I haven't looked through it enough to even suggest what should be cut out. I don't know if the rest of the board is in agreement with that. >> I I think not not tonight because there's more things that because with the T's
149and F, I was in the air with the T and F. So, >> no, but I'm just saying if if you're if we're at least in agreement to try to include that, >> I'll make a note on my page. >> Okay. >> I think yeah, I would agree with that. >> I'll make a note on it and then that way when we get back together again. >> Are also in the bud budget is the Well, we can't do the whole track, but repairs. >> So, repairs were covered by the uh grant by the legislature. Okay. And it came out to about $11,000 to to patch it all up. >> And how long will that last? Uh it's two to three years at the most. >> What's going on with the softball field? >> So what's
150going on with the softball field is the soft field had no ability to drain anymore because of the compaction of the soil. >> I was told that a similar thing happened to the high school approximately eight or nine years ago. That field got >> field >> turned over and it and we're able to manipulate it and get games on it and now softball's gone beyond that. uh due to the generosity of the grant by the New York State uh legislature, we're going to have that done. And um one of the things that I had looked into was to put drainage in, but because Amityville is basically a high water table, it would be uh uh cost prohibitive >> to do something to that effect. However, um my personal opinion would be to go to turf
151eventually down the line. Again, I'm not stating that we should do that, but that would eliminate a lot of the issues that we're having with clay surfacing. Yeah. So when they do this, we're going to be good for like five to 10 years >> when they turn this when they turn this ball field over. Yeah. >> So it's a definitely a positive. It didn't have to come out of the taxpayers funds. And uh Dr. Tabbert, if I may uh considering the uh Zoom that we had had today and you know the possibility of of maybe finding funding, maybe that's something that we could suggest the PIP servicing so that doesn't also fall. Okay. So yeah, so there may be another avenue where we might be able to do that. >> And I have one more
152question on that. What is the expected lifespan of that surface >> of the PIP surfacing? Uh 10 to 15 years. It's really good. Uh all you have to do is look at your surfaces at Northeast and Northwest. Now they're not impervious to um weather. They're not impervious to uh vandalism. However, uh uh they repair very well. And again, the surfaces are much higher rated for safety than than the uh five bar surfacing. Yes. >> And I I believe like Tanner Park, I think, has that same type of flooring and that gets used way more. >> Way way more. Correct. You can see the durability that PIP surfacing has. No question. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> All right. So I think everyone has had an opportunity to um ask their questions, express their opinion
153and I think our one of the things that we had stated that we were going to look at our calendars. So therefore we can do another meeting. Our next schoolboard meeting is April the 15th. So maybe either before that or after that where the focus would just be um again a budget presentation. everyone has um the line by line and we there's some things that we've asked some additional information so it allows the board an opportunity to look at everything and come back and make some hard decisions. So if people can look at the calendar and we can maybe ask Emory to do a little poll availability and we can go from there. >> Yeah. Go ahead Dr. T. So, as the board is considering what was presented uh to you on tonight, I want
154to just remind everyone that our Title 3 grant funding will no longer be in effect next year. Thus, the recommendation of the instructional coach for multilingual language learners. So, remember that these students must learn language and content at the same time. Many of them enter school chronologically at an age but performing academically below that age. It's a complex matter because services have to be coordinated um effectively for multilingual learners as well as students with disabilities. The landscape has changed drastically and the cse has authorized six kindergarteners to walk into nor well walk into the district next year. So that's going to come with teaching assistance possibly teacher aids. We have had a number of concerns about teachers seeking help on how to address the multi-layered challenges that they are facing with students with multiple needs.
155Thus, the instructional coach for SWD, these are two vulnerable subgroups where we still have to push outcomes. SWD students still have to have access to grade level work although we are differentiating their instructional programs. They have individualized reports according to their IEPs. So I want to you to think about that our multi-level lingual population is about 22%. And our SWD population is about little less than that but in that range. um that we want you to keep in mind. Um there has been a lot of uh talk about NICET and the movement to the multiple seals, the pathways and the one diploma. Thus the department chairpersons to help uh not just craft but to ensure the implementation of these pathways for careers as well as for college readiness. the lead guidance counselor. We're looking to
156coordinate all of those services because the high school will have to do heavy lifting over the next two to three years to come up to standard with what NICET is respect expecting as well as what we are expecting. I do want to state that academics are improving across the district. What we have shared with you here as some of the new highlights would help to push that forward. Progress monitoring is taking place across the district. Data meetings are taking place across the district. So there are measures in place to measure the success that is taking place across the district. Our biggest two areas is multi-level language learners, multilingual language learners and our SWDs. So if it's not the instructional coaches, we need to look at something to support those two populations of students because we
157are in a dire need to undergard them as well as the staff who is teaching those students. So, I ask that you would just keep that in mind as you're going through the multiple needs that you've heard on uh tonight. >> Thank you. So, at this point, if there's no more questions or comments, I was going to adjourn the meeting or does anyone have any questions, comments before? >> Just out of curiosity, Miss Johnson, does does everybody have their calendar with them now? So we could look at, for example, April 13th, 14th, which are the Monday and Tuesday program. >> My my problem is I don't have my other calendar here. >> Ah, sorry. >> Sorry. >> So to to Mr. Dreon's point, and I I know I've had this um I know I've expressed
158this to my fellow board members. For me, the best day always is Wednesday. That's the day I reserve for board meetings. I don't have anything else to do that day. Mondays are never good for me because I have another obligation. The other days I have some flexibility like Tuesday and Thursday, but for me, Wednesday is a sure thing for me. >> So, what we're talking about, April 15th is already a board me a board meeting. So, that's that Wednesday. So, we would have to look at the first either we're um 8th. >> Schools are closed on Wednesday, April 8th. So, he's looking at April 1. April 1 is I have to look at my calendar. And that's what I'm just saying. I don't if if we're looking at April 1st as an option. Let me
159just look at my calendar for April for April 1st and Tuesday, April 14th and then Wednesday, I mean Thursday, April 16th. So, I'll just me. I don't have my other calendar here. >> So, that's >> not that I'm So, we'll look at April We'll look at April 1. watching. >> So that's what I'm just saying. I said everyone needs to look at their calendars, >> right? >> Yeah. Everyone needs to look at their calendar. >> All right. And I think so. Can I have a motion to adjourn at at 8:38? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Carol Seahhoff is first. Chris Ner in a second. All those in favor? I I motion carries 6. Thank you for joining us.