001So uh we were still able to maintain class size at around 24 uh which is our our target figure 2425. Uh so recognizing that need we would like to add one more teacher to West End in this budget and that will be hitting our target class size again responding directly to student need. So those are the staffing priorities in this budget. In addition to that, we're going to continue to work with the profile of the owl. We're going to continue our commitment to bringing uh children with special needs back to the district and creating the continuum of special education services. And we're going to continue our investment in mental health and social work, especially with our Northwell partnership. So all of that are the priorities of this of of this budget. Uh it is not
002anything extravagant. It is directly in line with what we uh we have been talking about. Uh you may have heard Mr. Sarosi talk about in in January the introduction of a brand new career and technical education department at the high school in direct response to what the community wants and the community needs. So all of that is great stuff. Uh and it and quite frankly in a in a very normal budget way we will be presenting you a a a budget without much lift in it at all. In matter of fact, there's be no challenge uh in that because we corrected the structural problem. We don't have a problem with this year's budget, but we do have an interesting situation created by the state of New York and its tax cap formula. So, everyone in
003this room has probably heard people talk about something called the 2% tax cap. If you've been in this room long enough, you know that there's no such thing as a 2% tax cap. 2% is one element of a very complex formula that determines what the allowable levy is for a district. This year, every district in this state was allowed to use the two full percent because the two full percent represents inflation. We're in a high inflation era, so all districts get 2%. An interesting thing occurs here in Lindbrook. The other elements of that complicated formula specifically around what is called payments in lie of taxes contracts between entities that we don't have control over our taxing entity and the industrial development corporations. Those properties come on and off the rolls and in that process they
004both increase and decrease a district's cap. In 2324 we had four pilots come off the rolls. That gave this district the right to impose a 4% increase in the taxes. That was would have been our allowable lev. This board decided at that time with the influx of state aid not to tax to the full till full levy. Rather, we kept it at around 2% because that's what what we needed at the time. That same element of the formula this year comes back and depresses our cap. In fact, Lindbrook has the second lowest allowable tax cap in the entire county of Nassau. Before exclusions, we actually have a negative tax cap. Which means if we did not have exclusions to the levy, we would need to subtract $327,000 off of last year's levy. When we put
005in our exclusions, we still remain under 1% at 0.95, one of the lowest allowable levies in Nassau County. So tonight, we are presenting a fully balanced and responsible budget. Folks, we don't have a problem. The state of New York has created an issue where we now require a supermajority to exceed the allowable cap when really all we're doing is imposing less than 2%. The levy that we are proposing tonight will be 1.97%. Below our 10-year average of 2.02%. below the current Nassau County average of districts doing levies this very year, which is 2.24%. Well below the Long Island average, which is 2.56%. So when I say we want to go out with a levy of 1.97%, we are in the lowest quarter of taxing districts in Nassau County. But through this bureaucratic mumbo jumbo from
006the state of New York, we need a supermajority to exceed the allowable cap. Quite ironically, since the tax cap has been invented in since 2012, the good people of Lindbrook have passed our budgets with a super majority every single year. In fact, since the tax cap was established in 2012, our voters have approved our budget at an average of 72%. We don't have a local problem. If there's local control of schools and we give a reasonable levy to this community, this community has always responded with overwhelming support. Mr. press is going to take it over in a few moments and still lay out a couple of facts, but I just want to assure you we're presenting a reasonable budget tonight that just happens to need a supermajority. So that's what I have for tonight and
007I'd like to turn it over to Mr. Press for the technical details. Really quick, Dr. Just before we get to the details, just to understand at a high level, okay, historically, Lind Brook's gone out and we've been over 2% most year. That's our average historically. >> This year, we're coming in under 2%. So, lower than average. This is one of our lower budgets. >> Correct. >> Right. Nassau County is averaging 2.24%. Long Island's averaging 2.56%. We're coming in under 2%. So, we are coming out with a historically low budget. And the only reason this is even an issue is because like you said, New York has this faka formula that no one can it's it takes 35 slides which we're all going to see in a minute to explain what that formula even is. But
008New York has this formula that sets district by district what their cap could be. And due to things totally outside the district's control, our number is under 1%. >> That is a very fair characterization. Okay. Absolutely. Okay. Although I don't know where the fauka line is in the formula. I'll go back and I'll Mr. Press. We're going to have to do a little research to find out exactly where in the formula. >> I think if it comes out of Albany, it's definitionally fauka, but um I think there's several lines that would qualify. Are you good? Okay. Can you hear me? Good. Excellent. All right. Thank you. Um I really don't have much to talk about, Dr. Lynch. really you did a great job of summing up the entirety of the budget, but um I'll go
009through for those people like me who like to see some numbers in detail. Um but thank you for having me here um this evening to present the budget. Um like Dr. Lynch said, I think I agree this is a responsible budget. Um I do have to thank uh my budget partners uh the budget managers and the administration throughout the district for um really helping to put this together. Um they all work very hard to do that. um central office administration as well. U we would not be here I would not be here doing this without the assistance of um my cohorts in central office. So thank you all. So let's just get into it if this will work. Is this on? It's not on. That would help. There you go. >> Okay. Here we go.
010Um so um Dr. Lynch talked uh a lot about our programmatic priorities. So, I won't I won't dwell on that um too much, but they are listed here. Um I think this is, you know, for the responsible budget that we are putting together. We're offering a lot for our students um to allow them to u become successful not only here but when they leave Lindbrook. Oops, that's not okay. Um there were a number of budget challenges that we faced this year. We will not go through all of these in great detail, but when we talk about 2% tax caps and rates of inflation, um nothing on this slide came in anywhere close to the rate of inflation. Um we are subject to a lot of expenses, uh many of which we have no control over
011that are increasing well above rates of inflation. Um, not to mention medical insurance, which I'm sure everyone, you know, in their own personal life is seeing the rates on their insurance increase. Um, we've seen increases. We're budgeting an increase of 10% next year. That's in line with what we've generally been seeing. We had a little bit of reprieve in 2025. Um, but the rates went up about 9% in 2026. Uh, and we're anticipating for medical insurance them to go up even more. some of our smaller plans that we offer going up even greater and greater percentages. We have a small plan that's gone up 50% in terms of the premiums. Um transportation um our rates of increase are increasing just the rates more than um the rate of inflation. Our Bosey's transportation rates are increasing
012at 5%. Again, well above 2%. Um we are at we've added um eight new non-public schools to the transportation numbers. Um so that those those require new routes and new buses um that come with a cost there as well. Um both transportation is going up because um additional students there as well. Uh not to mention the tuition rates are increasing again well above the rate of inflation. Um and our general insurance has been increasing itself uh at double digit rates for the last several years as well. Um, and I threw in utility rates because I think we are we're all seeing utility rates themselves going up. Um, but then again, um, you know, the our usage has gone up in terms of heating our buildings this winter. Um, this has been a a terrible winter,
013not only for the rates, but just the amount of snow that we've gotten. So, um, all of which is to say we are facing a lot of challenges and increases in rates well above the rate of inflation. yet we are limited to 2% you know as part of that formula on the tax cap uh and increases from you know in terms of state aid generally do not um increase at the same rate as the rate of inflation. I have a quick question and I appreciate um all the work that the administration does managing the insurance as you mentioned here um just budgeting it year-toear is challenging but for clarification um can you explain whether the district periodically um reviews or compares different types of insurance options available to school districts in addition to our current
014participation in nicer um and maybe we can look at um obtaining like quotes for you know competitive quotes to compare just to see that we're getting the best coverage for the district. >> Sure. Uh so in terms of the general the the nicer insurance, the New York State Insurance Reciprocal, that's our general insurance. Um we have more districts have been having more of these conversations. I've been part of some of them. We are all um a little bit fed up and it's shown up in the meetings that we've had with um nicer leadership um saying this this is a this is a problem. It's not sustainable for us. They've faced their own challenges. Part of the um the increases are their exposure to the Child Victims Act um cases. They've taken some hits um on
015that front um fortunately not for for us, but just in general. So, their reserves have been a little impacted. Um but we have had conversations about that. I know there are other districts that have done RFPs. We can certainly do that. um there's not a lot uh there are not a lot of providers in the space um but we're we're certainly um open to looking at that on the medical insurance front we have you know I mentioned that plan that's um gone up 50% we have a broker that helps us find plans I I told him I said that that's not acceptable and we've started already for calendar year um looking at other alternates to see what we can do because that that plan's a little harder um there are very few people on that
016plan and they're generally older so the they're more costly. Um so uh so we're open to doing that and we've had conversations. I've had a couple of brokers come in to talk to me about medical insurance alternatives. Um so we are they've gotten to the point uh where we have to we we can't not do it. Part of it will maybe put some pressure on on Nicer to control the rates a little bit more. um they control over 90% of the school districts on Long Island. Um that not that they control them, but over 90% of the districts are members of nicer. Um so I don't know if that they're lazy, but I think we do need to kind of light a little fire under them and maybe doing that. I know you have meetings
017with other, you know, counterparts and maybe if it's something that's everybody's looking at, maybe that will >> make some changes, which would be >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Sure. >> Okay. Um, Dr. Lynch talked about the staffing. Um, so I don't think we need to get into that anymore, but this is the sort of the detail so you can see it in writing. Um the one occupational therapist that we have added um is generally offset by a reduction in the contracted occupational therapy services that we pay for. This is the fourth year in a row we've been um adding our own occupational therapists. And so we that those expenses on the contract side have um been affected. >> If I could just ask a clarifying question there with the staffing. Um, so the
018top two staff members are not really new next year. They were new this year, but because they were hired after the budget, they weren't kind of built into the the budget increase. Correct. >> We have to add it in now. >> Correct. >> And then the FTE at West End is a new hire to maintain class- size equity across the district. >> Correct. >> And then the occupational therapist is really just kind of shifting where it's being paid from. Correct. Yes. Thank you. Too far. Okay. Uh so getting into the individual budgets, uh superintendent's budget is flat. No increase there. Uh the board of education budget that's actually a it's a little in incorrect. There's a decrease there. Um in part due to the lower cost of of advertising. Um, we've found uh we've gotten
019some guidance where we can find alternate ways of advertising that are not as expensive as um some of our current advertising partners, I will say. Oops. Okay. Curriculum uh instruction and assessment. Um the increase here about $170,000. Um one second it's about uh just under 15% um largely in the area of Bosey's regional certification. Um these are programs that we um partner with Boseies for or we obtain the services or the programs through Boseies. Um and so uh some of those programs have increased. um some of the programs involved in this cohort of test scoring, arts and education um which is the um service that we get a lot of the assemblies um that we put on uh in buildings throughout the district. Uh there's an increase of $55,000 in tuition and tutoring there as
020well due to increase in tutoring needs and additional tu tuition expense um offset in part by a decrease in charter school tuitions. Um, I just want to point out I tend to highlight the big numbers in the the variations here. So the numbers that you'll see on screen in the bulleted points will not add up to the variance amount there. Um, sorry about that. Um, so just to make that clear. Okay. In terms of uh personnel, transportation, student support services, um, we talked about this a little bit. We've seen increases in the transportation rates, but also in the addition of uh new schools that we need to transport students to. So, in the non-public transportation, there's an increase of about 35% or $426,000. Um that represents eight new schools being added um to the budget
021plus the contract renewal at the rate of inflation. Um, eight doesn't sound like a lot, but it's actually a 28% increase in the total number of schools that we do service out of district. Uh, there's an increase of about $137,000 uh um in Bosey's transportation. That's due to again uh a net increase in the number of students we're transporting as well as a 5% estimated increase in transportation rates themselves. and then a increase of about $96,000 in indist transportation um due to additional runs uh including for special programs uh as well as again contract renewal at CPI. >> Mr. Press, if I may, >> could you just remind me what the CPI is at present? uh uh CPI the the the CPI for okay the CPI number that we use here it's an estimate because
022for transportation by state law the CPI we use um is the May CPI number which um so we don't know what that is we're estimating we're kind of um tracking the rates now CPI itself around now is about 2.6% six% um the rate. >> So again, well over >> correct >> 0.95%. >> Yes, >> just checking. >> Yes, >> thank you. >> Well above that. >> And then uh another question with that I don't know if you or or Dr. Berman have this number or can get back to me. Approximately what percent or dollar amount of that 3.9 million is nonpublic transportation? I can pull that up but I don't have it handy. I don't know Dr. Burman if you have that >> even ballpark. >> Oh, you know what? I don't have that breakdown.
023Do you have >> 1.6 million? >> So like almost 40% of our transportation costs are transporting students who elect to go to non-public schools. Thank you. >> Actually, just to follow on Mr. Murray's question. That's amounts that we're required to pay. That's not something we're electively doing. That's something that under New York state law we have to pay. >> Correct. >> And just to clarify that, I don't mean to be stepping on Dr. Bman's toes, but um we are required to transport students um at a non-public school up to 15 miles, you know, radius from the district. So, um, if parent chooses to send their child to a non-public school within that radius, we are required by law to transport them in general. >> Can I ask one? >> Um, that goes also like are
024there some buses where there's one student on the bus? It's like do we have buses like that being there's like eight additional new schools and it's like we can't like like it's we have to pay for that like we can't have where there's a limit almost like five or more than we or it's no every so according to the law and according to policy there is no limit as to how many children are required to be on a bus in order for us to run the bus. However, when we do have um I refer to them as they're single riders because many of our schools that are non-public, there are only there's only one child that's going to that school. What we sit and do is we look at all of the different schools we're
025go where we need to send to. Where are they located? What are the start times? What are the end times? And we cluster together as many as possible. But there are situations where there's just no other way to make it happen but to have individual runs. One of the questions I know Prior boards have asked um are there ways for us to be able to coordinate and work with other districts like East Rockaway. Quite often we we coordinate with certain um certain runs that we do have. One of the things we do run into is that the routes become exceedingly long. When you do start to work either with um let's say Boseies or within the quadrant, it's now not just Limbrook pickups, but it's multiple stops in multiple towns. So instead of having children
026on the bus for less than an hour, we'll have children all going to the same school, but they're traveling all over different towns all different ways to get to the school. So it becomes an exorbitant amount of time and that's not fair to our students. I I know, sorry, quick question also for some of the programs we have like students picked up here and sent. Is that something we could possibly look into if we shared with another district to have a central drop off or pickup point? >> By law, we can do that. Identify a centralized location for particular schools, particular stops to be able to kind of help consolidate that a little bit more. That is something we can do. >> Can we look into that? Because I feel like this increase is really
027going to hurt us in the long run and we need to look into consolidating that cost. >> Okay, great. >> Thank you. And for, you know, one of those singleton runs, is there a typical or average cost to that or is that not or is it really very dependent on how far it is? Like, you know, like what does one of those buses cost us in a year? >> So, it's about 7,600 a month if it's a single small vehicle that's going for four hours. So, depending on the number of hours, the rate will increase depending on the size of the vehicle. So could be like $75,000 a year potentially to send one kid >> to school. >> Correct. >> And what I have done also is I've requested in some cases to get a
028a small vehicle. So like an SUV, but the cost of an SUV and a and the cost of one of the small vans that supports anywhere from 16 to 22 children, it's the same cost at that point. It's the cost of the driver. And Dr. Burman, just to clarify though, our hands are really tied here. State law says we must provide transportation to school for resident students attending schools within 15 miles. >> Correct. >> And again, we can't raise our tax levy because it's set for an arbitrary 0.95%. Yet, we can't deny any of these students transportation. That's our obligation. Correct. Thanks. >> But I but I do think that, you know, when you hear those numbers, $75,000 a year to to transport one kid electively to school. I think Miss Denino raises a good
029point for some of the kids who are singletons, using Mr. Murray's words, you know, one kid on a bus. If there are kids in any of the districts that are with even close in this area, whether they're going to the same school or even a school within a, you know, 15 minute rate, you know, radius by car, it makes sense to really isolate all those one or two person runs and really reach out to neighboring districts. I think the the payoff could be great. Even if you could combine four or five of them, you could be talking six figure money. So, I think it's a good idea. I like I like it. Okay, just pull this back up over here. Okay. Um, in the the business office, uh, we're looking at an increase of about
0304 and a.5% $155,000 there. Um, we're seeing an increase of 65,000 roughly in Bosey's occupational education. Uh this is the CTE program that we send students through um at Boseies. Um it includes both the the Barry Techch CTE and the CTE skills programs. Uh there's $45,000 roughly increase in Bosei central data processing. Um these are expenses a lot of them that are shared. um when we engage services and uh some of our staff uh in the IT department through Boseies um we kind of split the cost between this code in in in my code in my budget um and the IT budget. Um we have an increase of about 14,000 in health expenses for out of district students. Um that is um we something we are also required by law to do. Uh and then
031some uh smaller increase in both these admin fees um offset a little bit. So there's a decrease in insurance. Um this is not an error. Um while our general insurance has increased, we have seen a decrease in um student accident insurance that's based on enrollment. So as enrollment decreases, that um insurance decreases a little bit. Um and then a decrease in our excess workers compensation insurance. So we are self-insured for workers comp, but we have this excess workers compensation insurance um for the big claims um that um get to be a little bit more than we anticipated. So, um that has come down as well over the last couple of years. Uh debt and inter fund transfers. Um not a lot here on debt. This is year seven of our 20-year debt service related to
032the bond. Um so the debt that will fluctuate usually in by a couple thousand each year. Um our interfund transfers are going up about $10,000. Um that is um the $10,000 increase is in our support of the food service program um because universal free meals are not free. Um we have to pay people to serve them and we had to staff up a lot this year in order to do that. The program is very successful. Uh and over time I think we will be okay. Um but initially there was a lot of things that we had to we had to staff up. We need to buy additional equipment to support the program. um and things of that nature. So, um we're increasing that support from $5,000 to $15,000. >> Mr. Press, if I may, first
033kudos to you and your team who did a fantastic job getting that program up and running. But if I can just point out again, free lunch to and free breakfast to all students is a wonderful thing, >> but free to the students is not free to the district. And again, it's yet another unfunded mandate where our hands are tied. We are told to provide this service and the cost of getting that program up and running falls on us. So, stop calling it free lunch. >> And I wouldn't even mind so much that the cost fell on us if we were allowed to raise the funds to meet that cost. But we're being told you have this cost you must fulfill and you have to not spend any more money. I mean, you can't do both,
034>> right? So, if we look, if I may, Mr. Press, because you're the numbers guy more so than me, >> a $10,000 increase to this program that has already cost us, if I recall, about $100,000. When we look at that 0.9% increase that we're allowed on our tax levy, that $10,000 is a chunk. It's not a large chunk, but it's not insignificant. Again, for a program we have no choice, >> right, >> but to offer. And that's a it's a small part of the increase we have been um you know we we are we we've got a more a much more favorable contract now than we had with our prior um food service management company. So there is revenue um coming in but um in part um there are things that we're using that we
035haven't had to use in the past in terms of equipment um our repair in uh bills are um through the roof. I think some of our principles in the audience um would agree. Um and there are things that we're trying to find parts for um that we can't find parts for because the equipment is old. So, we're in the process of trying to um upgrade that equipment. But it was fine before with the program we had. Um it's just that now in in some cases we are in some buildings we're tripling quadrupling the meals that we served a year ago. And so we've got to upgrade the equipment. But again, you know, again, great. We I I think the the universal free meals have been great for students and families. Um but we really weren't
036given a lot of time to kind of um ramp up for the program if we would have had time to get equipment um kind of like the electric buses um which doesn't affect us as much. Um but similar, you know, hey, go do this and figure out how to do it and figure out how to pay for it. Um and then they start to realize like, oh wow, this is actually this is a problem. Let's kind of slow it down a little bit. So, >> thank you. >> All right, moving on to facilities and security. Very um reasonable increase here. It's less than 2%. Um the largest increase is just an overall net increase in um utilities. we um tend to uh budget to allow for contingencies in the utilities particularly in oil because as
037we're seeing now uh in the in the world the prices can spike um you know very quickly on some of these and I know back during COVID um I was not here but I know in my other district we were completely caught off guard by the increase in the price of of oil. So, we tend to kind of budget very conservatively in here. Um, which is why the increase is not larger, but there is an increase here. Um, additionally, there's a net increase in equipment codes. Um we've got a decrease in some areas uh for equipment we bought last year that we don't need to buy. But again um we for the our food service program we've been making do with a van that really when um I started here which is when we started
038the elementary program um was kind of tagged for going to the graveyard. Um we we revived it. U Mr. Seda and his crew revived the van. Um but it's not it and it was in a condition to kind of deal with the numbers we were dealing with um prior you know to um the universal free meals. Um that van is getting a lot of use. Um and kudos to our food service messengers who are driving all over the place to make sure our kids get food. Um so we budgeted for uh the purchase of a van um for the food service program in here. Uh and then we've got a small increase in general security and custodial supplies and materials. Um, in the budget, um, we always include some capital projects. This year, we've budgeted
039about $900,000 to replace the running track at South Middle School. Um, again, Mr. Shade and his team have been, um, patching and patching this track. The track is 12 years old. It generally tracks the last at most 10 years. Um, it's reached the point where it can no longer be repaired. Uh, so we're budgeting to replace that. um that track is used, you know, by varsity, junior varsity. It's our only it's the only track in the district. It's used by varsity junior varsity. It's used by the community. So, um that just needs to be replaced. Uh moving on to our school budgets. Um not a large variance here in terms of the school budgets. Um generally overall it's an increase of about 5 and a half% across K12. um largely due to um increases in
040activities, salaries, um contractual increases, but then also again at the elementary level, we've increased the number of clubs available um to our students. Uh and then there's increases um K12 in transportation due to um in some cases increases in um field trips, the contractual and the increases due to CPI on the transportation contracts. Um and then uh in some cases um supervision at the secondary level has increased. We've seen an increase in the need um the the students that are participating in activities after school um there's a greater we're seeing a greater need for them to have uh additional um supervision uh and aids and things like that. Um special education our increase here is about 5% overall. Sorry, I thought I heard a question. Um, so we are seeing an increase of about um
041$1,000 in both these tuition and related services. That's due to an increase in the rates of four and a half to 5% um on on between related services and tuitions and then a net increase of eight new students that we're budgeting to place at Boseies out of district next year. Uh and then an increase in transportation due to um new schools and routes plus the increase at CPI. Um our related services indistracted services code um is increasing about $100,000. Um again that's offset by us hiring that uh new occupational therapist on staff. Um and then all of this increase is offset by a decrease of um just over $800,000 in our out of district public and private tuitions. That's due to us bringing kids back in district um kids graduating, aging out of the program
042um or otherwise leaving the district. in communications and technology. Um this is sort of there's a somewhat common theme running through some of these codes. We have a lot of old um equipment um things that um again reach their useful lifetime. So we have in the budget um we're budgeting to start a regular replacement cycle for security cameras. They u we installed a lot of them at around one at one time. um those cameras, a bunch of them are um they're not providing the clearest picture. We're looking to replace them um so we can maintain a level of security. And then there are there's network equipment, the equipment that maintains our computer networks um that is uh that reached their useful the end of their useful life. So we need to replace them. Um similarly,
043our telephone equipment um there's a need to replace um a bunch of our telephone equipment. That's your $51,000 increase there. Uh and then on the instructional software side, uh there's an increase of about $40,000. That's due to general contractual increases, the increases in the licensing fees, um and the addition of um the implementation of AI resources for both students and staff. Um there's additionally in this budget, um it supports our card swipes. So right now we have a lot of um keys for external doors for things like athletics. Um we're looking to add card swipes. So um you know the staff can use their ID cards to swipe into the buildings. Um it gives us better control over access to the buildings. We don't you know there's a lot of keys kind of floating out
044here and there. This would allow us to say only these people can enter the buildings. There would be access points added um for external athletic doors. Um athletics and health. Um the increase here is almost $200,000. Um, this code took a very big hit in 2526. Um, we um had to thank our athletic director um because he cut his budget last year by about $100,000 um and made do with what he could for that one year. Um so a lot of this increase is kind of um right sizing the budget in athletics. Uh but then it's also, you know, contractual increases. Again, we're seeing similar increases in transportation, uh, contractual increases in athletic supervision and coaching salaries. Fine and performing arts, again, things reaching the end of their useful life. Uh, there's some uh equipment,
045some stage equipment at West End that has uh itself become a bit of a safety concern uh as well as the coral risers at West End. So, we're looking to replace them there. Uh and then the uh we've seen an increase in the participation in the music program. Um which means there's an increase in need for repairing uh instruments there as well. Um increase in instrument rental. Uh and then an increase in transportation. Um again, you have more participation. You have more kids going to all county events. Um when our football team makes the playoffs at Hofra, the band goes to perform. There's a cost associated with that as well. So that's represented in this budget. uh guidance and counseling largely flat. The decrease here is really us just um moving co- uh expenses to
046the codes that's more that are more appropriate for them. So uh there's a job coaching program that we have used for our CDP students um that was coming out of guidance but it's really managed u by our special education department. So we're just moving the expense there. Um so that's why you're seeing a decrease. special programs. These are our summer programs and our adult um ed programs. Uh it there's an overall net decrease. Um last year when we budgeted this, we um anticipated um a certain amount of participation in the summer academic program and us having to pay teachers for that program. Um the enrollment was not as as high um as we had budgeted for. So we were able to reduce that um down to a level that's more in keeping with what we're
047seeing there. Um so that's the decrease here. We are budgeting for small increases in um the rates that we're paying the people who run these programs. Um and I do want to point out at this point, so we are increasing the rate um for summer playground participation. It was $300 last summer. Um we're increasing that to $350 for district residents and 380 for the village residents. Um the program itself is supposed to it should be self- sustaining. it has not been self- sustaining. Um, it's a very popular program. We have a lot of enrollment, but it hasn't been self- sustaining. So, we've been taking steps over the last couple of years to kind of bring the cost of the program in line with the actual expenses. Um, we still believe very strongly that this is
048a a really great um value for the amount of money it is for that program. So, if I'm understanding what you're saying correctly, the district does support some amount of the summer playground fee. The the fee that parents pay to participate doesn't cover the full cost of the program. >> It has not we're we're looking to kind of rightsize that next, you know, in the next year's budget. >> Okay. Salary and benefits on both sides, we're looking at increases of about three and a half%. Um, again on the salary side, I've got these the four new positions that they are new to the budget. Again, two of them are positions that already exist. We just need to um recognize them in the budget. Uh, and two of them will be new uh next year. Uh,
049on the benefit side, we're looking at, again, this is where I was talking about the increase in health insurance. It's almost $850,000 increase in in health insurance alone. the total variance in benefits is only $916,000. So, um again, we have very little control over that. Uh social security increases due to increase in salary. The increase in payroll taxes will go up accordingly. Um our Medicare reimbursement is going up about $114,000 next year. U we're seeing an increase in our ERS pension costs. Uh again, these are man the rates are mandated to us by the state. Uh and those rates have been increasing over the last few years. So, we're budgeting an $100,000 increase there. Um, interestingly enough, the TRS rates have gone down over the last couple of years. So, they've gone it went down
050for next year quite substantially. So, we're able to recognize a savings there of about $320,000. So, um, this summarizes the entirety of the budgets that we just talked about. Total budget about $115 million. Um, it's an increase of about $5 million or about four and a half% there. What just I only pushed the button once. I'm not sure what just happened. All right. Okay. All right. Good. Um so um how are we going to pay for this? This is where we start talking about revenue. Um our local revenue projection, most of these categories remain unchanged. Um our pilot costs there have gone up. We're going to talk about that a little bit more when we talk about tax cap. Um but they've gone up about half a million dollars. Um and uh I think the
051the rest of the these codes have kind of remained unchanged. um including our use of reserves and we'll talk about that a little bit more but we have not made any um in we have not increased the use of reserves in next year's budget. So our total local revenue is about $9.3 million. Uh so in terms of use of reserves again um this is unchanged. So the reserve we're using on the left 2.99 million on the right you see what the balances would be the anticipated end ofear balances in these reserves and the total of about 11.2 $2 million. Um, still a healthy amount of reserves. These aren't all the reserves. Um, these are just the reserves that we're using in next year's budget. So, we talked about wanted to kind of show this um
052slide of the use of reserves over time. You can see there was kind of a little bit of fluctuation um in the early years. On these slides, the red bars represent the change um increase or decrease in the use of reserves. So we had, you know, fairly large increase 2425 and we talked about at that time, you know, we needed that to kind of balance things out. Um, a small increase last year. Um, no increase this year. So that's why there's no red bar for 2627. Um, this level of reserves, I've said this, um, each time I've presented, um, it does cause me some concern. Um, long-term, we cannot, we certainly cannot continue, we cannot increase um, we're going to continue to increase um, over time. So, right now, I think the level of reserves
053we're using is um it's okay. I'm not 100% comfortable. I'd like to bring it down. Um but just wanted to show you kind of where where we're at. Um our state aid revenue projection. Um we have seen actually uh a nice increase in state aid um this year. That's in part due to changes in the foundation aid formula. the foundation aid formula, the top line here, um that's an increase of about 6%. Um that's due they changed the formula last year, so now they're picking up um more current measures of poverty. Um so that that was a big change for us. The the measure of poverty they were using before was much older. So now um when the measure of poverty goes up, generally our aid ratios go up and we get more money. Um
054so foundation aid we're seeing about a 6% increase there. Um transportation and boseis were two other areas we saw big increases. Um transportation in part because we're spending more. We've talked about that the transportation costs have gone up. Uh but the aid ratios themselves have also increased. Um and everything with the exception of foundation aid on this slide um is based on uh expenses. So, we spend money one year, we get aided the next year on a lot of these things. Um, the other increase here is is going to be in building aid, and we'll talk about that as well because that has an effect on the tax levy cap. Um, and I include universal prek funding here, too. We we bring it out because it's not part of the big budget that we're talking
055about, but but the state when they put out aid runs, they do include it in there. So, just so that we're clear, there's um a budget of about 1.2 million here. Um, and I'll just mention it does represent an increase uh in the amount that the state is budgeting to pay for students. So, they've been paying $5,400 a student for any number of years. Um, they have the budget this year uh has a cost increase to $10,000 a student. Um, so we are doing uh we we did a an RFP for U uh UPK services. um we're we actually uh did in those responses we did not receive enough seats for the program. So, we're actually going to go and do another um RFP for the UPK program. Uh and hopefully we'll get additional seats
056so that everyone who does apply for UPK will have a seat. Um and we think at $10,000 a student that that's should be fairly attractive to providers. So, we'll keep you informed on that. Okay. So our tax cap, I think we've had a a nice healthy discussion of of our tax cap. We'll just walk through the calculation here. Um the the calculation itself starts with u last year's tax cap and we we on top of that we multiply this taxbased growth factor. That's a change in the taxable property in the district. So in this case there's a very small increase. Um we add in the pilots from last year. So you see, and this is going to be important, the pilots for last year, 2526, um, just over $4 million. I'll jump ahead a little
057bit. You see down below the pilots are $4.5 million. So that's the $500,000 increase that I mentioned. Um, and that's very it it really has a significant impact here. So we go back up top the 2526 pilots we add them in. We take out these exemptions which is largely the capital projects minus any aid we get and we get the adjusted prior year levy. At that point we build in this 2%. Um so that's our last year's levy. Get a little ahead of myself. So when we talk about when when you see in in the papers in the news a 2% tax cap. I mean this is only one slide one of the two slides of the tax cap. Um the 2% um CPI the inflation factor is this very small part of the formula
058um in here. So when you multiply by the 2% you get uh you take out you back out the estimated pilots for next year which has effect an effect of reducing our allowable levy limit. So you see up here, our levy limit for next year before exclusions is actually a reduction. This is what Dr. Lynch was talking about. It's a reduction of about $300,000. So you I mentioned we back out the pilot payments. The pilot payments were five an increase of $500,000 were negative $300,000. Without that pilot increase, we would we would be on the positive side. So this is where this formula is a little um vaka. Can we say that? Are we allowed to say that? Um so there's our 2%. Again, a very small part of the bigger formula. So we carry
059forward the allowable uh the the tax levy before the exclusions and then we um add back in our debt service and this is the exclusions um that uh factor in. And once we are done adding in our exclusions, sorry, um, and in and our building aid, we get to our allowable tax levy limit, which we've been talking about is less than 1% n5%. The increase is $752,000. Again, as we've seen, our expenses have increased well above that. So, the the two our two main sources, our two real sources of revenue are our tax levy and state aid. neither of which are increasing at the same rate as the increase in our expenses. Okay. So, our proposed budget $15 million. Uh when we talk about our state aid, our local revenue projected applied fund balance which
060is 1.525 million again unchanged from the prior year. We add in our estimated uh total uh revenue of 30 uh sorry that adds up to our total revenue of 34.8 million. We add in our allowable tax levy again at the 95% we get $114,448 which is a difference of $800,000. What we're proposing is a is a a tax levy of 880,447 which is $800,000 over the allowable levy. Uh it's just I have I need to point out that a proposed levy uh above the allowable levy limit requires a 60% supermajority passing rate. This is Dr. Lynch had mentioned this but this is these are the numbers. So I wanted you to see that. >> So I just if I'm hearing all of this correctly, the difference between what the state formula tells us as a
061local institute we can ask for our community, regardless of what the community thinks is 800,000 less than what we have set as a very reasonable, responsible, and careful budget. And if I heard you correctly before, the pilots, which is some agreement between the government and the businesses that we have nothing to do with, plus the costs of free lunch, adds up to 600 out of that $800,000 already. It's a lot. I mean, the the the the food program is paid for from a different fund, kind of similar to like the the prek uh the universal prek paid for from a different fund. The universal meals are paid for out of this the cafeteria fund, but there's a there's a lot of things we're covering out of >> the meals are, but but not the other
062expenses. And that's where the $100,000 comes in. >> Yeah. There's there's a lot of Yeah. Yeah. So, there's 100,000. We've we have taken the u the point of paying a bunch of those salaries, but not all the salaries out of the C fund, but at the end of this year, we're what we're going to see is that there's going to be a need to supplement from the general fund. But yes, I I I see the point that you're making. There's a lot of these costs that are coming down of which we have no control over and we end up when we try to present a reasonable budget, there's there's not a lot of bells and whistles in the budget that we're presenting. really is not. Um, and yet we're at a 0.95% allowable levy limit.
063So, what we're proposing is again, even with a limit that's above a tax levy proposal that's above the allowable levy limit, we're still below 2%. Just just another commentary. I mean, I look at that at the difference between local control of our decision- making, which is the middle line there, and state control of decision-m, which is the top line there. And I know I think most of us on this board are much more in favor of local control of decision-m than state control of decision-m. >> Yeah. I mean, I think it really highlights the the problem and and the between a rock and a hard place the state puts school districts in this county in. You you can go back to some of the really early slides like slide number three. Those are some of
064the real big ticket items, right? Medical insurance, transportation, um general insurance, utilities, boseies. Those are multi-million dollar categories that are going up by 10% 9% 20% 5%. These are massive increases. Any one of those categories alone, the increase is more than the state would have us increase our budget under their formula. Think about that. If you just took the transportation increase that we pay, and again, some of this and we want to do right by kids. We want to provide transportation where where it's appropriate, but we are mandated by New York state law that we have to transport kids who go to non-public school within 15 miles. That cost increase alone is more than the state would have us increase our budget under their formula. That's crazy. So you have statemandated expenses, but districts locally
065having to now pay for it. It's it's the example of I want you to buy every everyone a Ferrari, but we're only giving you $5 to do it. It's it doesn't make sense. It just doesn't make sense. And Joel, if I could ask on on the numbers side, this $800,000 difference, if memory serves, that would be about $1.02% of our budget. Does that sound about right? >> Um, I mean, it would be 1.02% of an increase in the allowable levy, but Oh, you're saying the 800,000 as a part of the whole budget. >> Hundred million dollar. >> Yeah.$15 million. It would be it would be less than that actually. Yeah. And you know I know that when the tax cap itself came into play it was you know prior to that period you know uh
066schools had presented budget increases just um much larger very large levy increases of 6 8% or more um I think that's what was the part of the impetus for doing this. We're talking about we're proposing to override a limit at less than 2%. Um and we need a supermajority to do that. To to me that it's a reasonable levy increase. That's a reason very reasonable budget. You've heard me talk about like we're replacing equipment that's passed its useful life or buying a van to help us feed kids. >> And in fact, can I just ask a clarifying question on some of that replacing of equipment? So I noticed for instance the track I'm not saying I'm a fitness, you know, I'm not Andy here, but a tripping hazard is a liability to us. Correct. It
067is a huge liability if someone, whether it be a student, a teacher, a staff member, a community member using our track >> trips because we're not we haven't maintained it. then that's yet another liability on us that could really significantly impact our ability to provide the well-rounded exceptional education that Limbbrook is known for to every student in our district. >> Yes. And that was one of the reasons why we prioritized that track. This has been something that's been on the radar for a little bit and it's now reached the point where Mr. Seda uh Mr. Marlotti, they said this is a problem. It's a problem. You can't have you can't have kids. You can't have community members running on this without the potential for to cause harm. >> Well, it's a problem in two regards.
068You have obviously you could harm someone and but it could also even become an insurance issue that an insurance company does their loss mitigation. They come in and they inspect. If it's past its useful life, it's just a matter of time before our insurance company says, "You can't use that track. Shut it down or we're not going to insure you." That happens on commercial properties all the time. So, you know, it looks like it's a like a want, but it's more of a ha a need than a want. It's something that has to be done, you know, and that's really when I'm looking through this budget and these slides and, you know, all the information that goes behind it, you know, it's really hats off to to Mr. Press and to the whole central administration
069here. There's no fat in here. You know, we we teach our kids about your your needs and then your wants, right? You say, "I have to do your needs. The wants you don't always have to satisfy." I don't see that many wants in here. This is all needs like almost everything in here are things that we have to do to continue to deliver great education to the kids, to the community, safety, um social emotional education, you know, profile of the owl. There's not a lot in here, if anything, that we're saying, you know, would be great. Let's add this in. We're not doing that this year. And, you know, hats off to you for for keeping that budget so tight. Not sure a lot of the um administrators in the audience would would share your
070um your kudos. >> Well, and can I just say hats off to all of you in the audience because you've all made cuts. You have every one of you tighten your belts to deliver the same exceptional service and we keep asking you to do it with less and less and less. So, thank you. >> Agreed. Okay. All right. So, again, looking back at our tax levy, um this is a repeat of the slide. We have our we had our difference u if we uh as we proposed u a levy in excess of the allowable levy limit of $800,000 that eliminates our difference and gets us to a balanced budget. Um, again, we've talked about this. Um, we wanted to just kind of share this is the 10-year tax levy history here in Lindbrook. Um, the
07110ear average 2.02%. Uh, we are proposing a budget below the 10-year average. Again, we think that is um that is reasonable. Um, >> I'm sorry. >> Sure. Go ahead. >> Yeah, Mr. This is this is my absolute favorite slide there because it just it just shows the like the absurd political notion that you know a tax cap is you know we do what we always do and this that this slide proves it. We put forth a fiscally responsible budget without any cuts you know and also at the same time addressing all our needs. You know uh a 1.97 tax levy increase six times in the last 10 years. Right? We've been below that six times and we're below our average over the last 10 years. Yet >> we're even more below if you do the
0725-year average because the 5-year average is actually 2.07%. So, if we went back only to COVID, we're even lower than that. >> Correct. Now, I mean, this is what aggravates me and this is why I I I'm like flustered at this point because we do what we always do as a district, as admins, as school boards, a as staff. Yet, you know, the the there's the ability now for a headline to be in the paper saying Liber has to pierce the tax cap, which is one of the more absurd notions going out there. We're doing what we always do. Yet, how can you know uh headlines be out in there towards the community saying that we're piercing a tax cap when we're increasing this less than we have the majority of times over the last
07310 years effectively to to use a baseball reference? We've hit home runs 10 years in a row. You know, because we hit the ball 400 feet into the outfield. You know what we did this year? We hit the ball 400 feet. Only problem is the state moved the fences to 700 feet away and they added like an extra six outfielders. So, we did what we always did, but for whatever reason this year it's not a home run. I I I just hope that, you know, people understand that this district is financially in great shape based on the leadership of this administration. You know, I and you know, I hope the narrative doesn't swallow up what's actually going on. I I also think that speak of a headline, it really needs to be the impact of
074pilots on school districts. That that's really the story that needs to come from this is how, you know, fiscally responsible everybody in this district is and the health of our district and how the pilots impact school district's local decision-m. That's really what needs to be highlighted. Just need to add to that, you know, the the pilots, these payment in payments in le of taxes are often uh you know, again, these are agreements we have absolutely no control over. We have no say in them. Um and and often times the payments that are being made by these property owners are well below the uh what what they would pay in taxes on the market. Um, one of our biggest well our biggest pilot uh is from LIPA and uh that one is a that one is
075a big uh it's a it's it's a big unknown. Um it's so complicated. I spent hours this year on the phone with Nassau County trying to have them explain to me it's it's not a a simple thing. Lipo owns a number of properties within the district. There's a cap on the growth of their pilots. Um and it's by property. it's not on the whole and in some cases the properties where they're paying a pilot, it's less than half the taxable value of that property. So, um, and we don't know what that's going to be, um, every year um, because things get reassessed. It's part of the problem with these pilots. So, there's a lot that we have no control over. Um, we generate budgets as best we can based on what we anticipate the pilots
076to be. But again, there was this pilot that went back on the tax roles and then came back in in the form of a pilot this year, which is the really the big reason why we're seeing this drop in the tax levy. So, we have no control over it. Um, and we don't know when they're coming. So, it's really difficult for us to plan for these things. I >> I just I I want to go back to something Dr. Lynch said at the outset. I think it's really important to come back to it. this slide that you're looking at, we do not have a budgeting problem. We do not have an expense problem. We have a state formula problem and we're just doing this the right way rather than the way the state's telling us
077they think we should do it. >> Yeah. I mean, and I'll just add to that. But I think we have a state formula problem which I think we have a pilot problem and I think we have a state mandate pro problem as well with these unfunded mandates. It really creates a perfect storm. So you have the state saying you must do all of these things and they're really expensive but we're not paying for them. Then you have the state not this not New York State Albany but other governmental entities making these private side deals on these pilot programs which we have no say in. We're not consulted. We're not we have no input. and it takes hundreds of thousands of dollars potentially out of our pocket. So unfunded mandates, we're going to reduce the tax
078levy and then we impose this ridiculous formula which is really just nonsensical to say and now you can't tax for it. So how are we supposed to pay for these things? Right? It just doesn't make sense. It puts us in a really difficult position. But this slide really is great. Mr. Plesky's right. You look at this. If you look at the last couple years, this will be our lowest budget that we're putting out. So the headline, someone's going to run a headline that's going to say Lindbrook breaches tax cap. The headline should be Lindbrook delivers its lowest budget in 5 years despite all of these challenges. That really should be the headline here. >> And lower than all our surrounding neighbors. And you'll see that in the next slide. Nice job, Mr. Press. >> Uh,
079all right. Before we get to that slide, I just again wanted to maybe There we go. Oh, and this went too far. Okay. Um Dr. Lynch had pointed this out before in 2324. Um that was when the um the board had approved a budget below the allowable levy limit. And so there was about $ 1.5 million uh in a tax levy that was not um included. So, we kind of, as we say in business office, we kind of left that on the table had we, you know, had that happened at the time. And I think the the levy um the allowable levy limit was over 4%. So, I do not blame uh the board for not wanting to go out with a 4% um budget again in this world of 2% tax caps when uh
080the media is harping on that thereby making people believe that anything more than two is a problem. Um that would have been allowable. I probably would not have gone advised to go out with a 4% um levy increase either. But um so there was money there that was not taxed. So just to be clear, two years ago we had the chance of asking the community for another 1.5 million, you know, at a 4% increase and it would have been under the allowable tax levy. So there would have been no headline saying we passed the tax cap. This year we're asking for 1.9% which is significantly less than that amount. Yet someone has the ability to say we did pierce the tap tap. >> All right, that seems reasonable. Yeah, I don't think there was a
081headline in 23 for the 2324 budget that Lindbrook does not >> and and to to piggyback on that, if you if you read the second paragraph of that headline, we have clearly been extraordinarily responsible in the levies that we asked this community to support, as evidenced by the fact that we quote unquote left $1.5 million on the table a few years ago. that if we hadn't done that, we wouldn't be here. So, we have been responsible, we have been fair, we have been appropriate, and this budget is still responsible, fair, and appropriate. >> Yeah. And I'm sorry to prolong this discussion, but one other point to kudos to to again the entire administrative staff and the building staffs. If you look at the last couple years, so 23, 24, 24, 25, those were extraordinarily high
082inflation years economically throughout the country and even more so in New York. CPI for those years, I believe in 23 24 at one point hit 19% at one point uh for on a month, you know, on a one-mon basis, but I know that it annualized around 9% if I remember. Last year was certainly a heck of a lot higher than 2.9%. We're continually giving budgets that are increasing at a lower rate than CPI, consumer price index increase, right? So, we're coming in under inflation. This year, I think CPI is currently what, 2.6%. >> Right? And we're coming in at 1.97%. So, you know, for anyone writing articles, there's another great headline. Lindbrook comes in under CPI for the millionth straight year. >> Let's get to the next slide. That one's a lot of fun. Next
083slide. All right. So, um, so every year, um, all school districts are required to file their proposed tax levy increase, uh, with the New York State Controllers's Office. Um, so this data is all public. Um, they're we're required to file by March 1st. Um, this is all data that I pulled for our surrounding districts in terms of their proposed levy. Um, and here we are, the 14th lowest levy out of 54 districts in Nassau County. Uh, Nassau County average being 2.24% as Dr. Lynch said, and the Long Island average 2.56%. We are well below that. We are, again, Dr. Lynch had said this, I want to repeat it. It's worth repeating. We're in the lowest quartortile of the entire island in terms of our levy increase. And for people in the audience who are not
084super familiar with surrounding districts, Valley Stream 30, Valley Stream 13, and Valley Stream 24 are K6on districts. No high school, no athletics. None of those other things are are taxed there. And and we're like I mean I just I think that's important to note also that we're the only K12 fullervice district that's on the bottom of that list. >> Yeah. And I I I thought about only including K12 districts on this list for that reason. Um but I I wanted to provide the fuller picture, but I agree. You know, the the elementary districts do not have um the same level of partic they don't they don't have athletics. um they don't have the same level of participation in things like all county and things of that nature. So um yeah just I think >> and
085Mr. Press before you advance can I just confirm that we are the only one there even though we're one of the lowest who are quote piercing the cap. We're doing what we need to do to provide the services given the inflation, given the unfunded unfunded mandates, and we're providing a a responsible budget as Lindberg has always done, but we're the ones who will get signaled out. >> Now, none of the districts on this list are proposing any levy that would um exceed their allowable levy limit. >> So, theirs were all more than a percentage higher than ours. a full percent higher other than you know that taking apart the two under us, >> right? >> Okay, >> that's correct. >> So that's actually a good point and we you know I I think we all
086know this. Most of the people physically in the audience know this but most people don't. I certainly didn't until I came onto a school board. The tax cap is not a statewide cap. So it's not any district in the county or any district in the state can go up by 1%. Each district has their own calculated cap which is based on all those factors that Joel walked us through before with which was very complicated but includes the pilots and all that. So Lindbrook's cap is.97 for this year right >> 0.98.95 0.95 excuse me is it is raising their taxes or proposing a tax levy increase of over 3% but they're under their cap meaning their maximum allowable is more than 3%. So, it really does vary. It's not like it varies by a millionth of
087a percent. It really varies quite widely from district to district. So, I think I think that's an important point because most people don't understand that that other districts this year because of their own formula imposed by the state can raise taxes by three and maybe even 4% and be perfectly fine, but we can't go up.96 without violating this tax cap. Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. So that is the budget. Um all the budget in a nutshell. Um now that's so proposition one on the ballot in May will be the vote on the budget. Proposition two will be our use of technology reserve. Um again projects that we have done every year. Um a wiring project this year at North Middle School. We are replacing a lot of just the network wiring in the buildings. Um again
088not to beat a dead horse. is things that have reached their useful life. We have old wiring. We are replacing it to make the wiring um faster for our students and our staff. U that will cost us about $130,000. Uh and then device replacement. This uh these these are some of the um the touchscreen boards for the classrooms. These are the laptops for our students uh and in and staff. Um the cost of those devices have gone up considerably. Um we do have concerns that the costs are going to go up even more. um in the marketplace now a lot of these data centers are sucking up all of the chips um and so there's a concern we had a delay last year in getting uh the the devices that we have you know we
089followed the same procedure we've done every year um we always have gotten the devices before start of school last year we did not um that was due to supply chain issues um related to in part related to the tariffs um we we are anticipating there's going to be delays. We've already been told there there are delays um currently. So um that that is a concern for us. So on top of costing more, the device is costing more. Um there's potentially delays there. So we're asking for a total of $560,000. Um the reserve balance after that use would be about $977,000. Uh important to point out this is uh us asking for the use of funding from reserve funds. this uh use the approval of this proposition would have absolutely no effect on the tax levy.
090Good. Okay. Um Proposition three on the ballot. Again, every year we have a proposition u for use of uh funds out of our capital reserves. Um this year, Proposition 3 uh no different there. Um we are uh budgeting in there $3 million for the purchase uh of property and construction of a fitness center. Um we've talked about this at previous board meetings. Um the property is actually right adjacent to the high school there. So we're budgeting for $3 million for that project. Um there are three rooftop air conditioning units here at the high school um that sometimes we have to um kind of look on eBay for parts for. Um again, end of useful life. Um we need to replace them. They can they have continuously failed on us. Um particularly during the summers and
091then we're having service people coming in and using temporary air conditioning units. So we're budgeting to replace the three at top the high school here. uh North Middle School, we need additional uh instructional space. So, we're budgeting $300,000 to split the tech room uh at North. Uh also at North, um there's there's a heating issue. Um it's it's it's the heat is still functioning there, but it's uh you know, it's again it's an it's an old um steam pipe. Um we're looking to repair and replace that for about $120,000. And then at West End, um, so our PA systems districtwide are again very old. West End's has is actually passed the end of its useful life. It no longer really works. Um, this has been on our list for a while to try to replace
092um, districtwide. So, we're we're starting at West End because that's the system in the worst shape. Um, so we're budgeting about $300,000 for that. Um, I will say that um, uh, Congresswoman Gillan's office uh, reached out to us about grant opportunities through her office. Um, we are working to put an application in that we think um, would cover um, if not West End, many if not most of our buildings. So, we're going to ask for money there um, to replace not just West End, but more of our buildings. We're not entirely hopeful um that we're we're going to get the award, but this will put it on the radar. Um these uh grant funds become available every year. If we don't get it this year, we'll continue to apply for additional funds in the future.
093So the total cost for all of these projects about $4.2 million um uh coming out of our capital reserve would leave us with a balance in capital reserve of about $3 million after use. Again, this is make um pulling money out of our capital reserves. Um approval of this proposition has no effect on the tax levy or the budget. >> I I think that bears repeating and and that last line on that slide could probably be at least twice as large of a font that like this is not any changes here don't in any way, shape, or form allow us to do anything with the tax levy. It's a completely separate thing. This is just money we intentionally squirreled away for exactly these kinds of costs. And again, it's a sample of responsible budgeting and
094decision-m where this does not have any additional cost to taxpayers because it's already been saved for. >> So, Mr. Murray, to that point, um I'll ask the rhetorical question because I know others may ask it. Why don't we just put this money towards this shortfall? And the answer is we can't. This is money that's already been squirreled away for this particular purpose. So for anyone wondering, we we can't simply say, "Oh, don't you do any of these things. Just use that money to cover salaries and transportation. This money is in a separate reserve fund that's allocated specifically for these types of facility projects. We we can't just move money from one bucket to the other. Just for anyone wondering about that out there. >> That's that that's a that's a great point. Um Mr. Luna,
095thank you for raising that. That applies to all of the reserve funds. So even the reserve funds that we are using to fund parts of the budget, our ERS reserve, our TRS reserve. Um those funds can be used to support the budget, but only very specific limited expenses. We can't just say, "Well, we we, you know, we need to um pay for medical insurance." We don't have a reserve that covers that. So, we can't take, you know, another $800,000 out of any of those reserves to pay for the increase in health insurance. It's a really good point. Um, and just finally, reminders, um, budget adoption scheduled for, uh, a week from today, uh, Wednesday, March 11th. Uh, the budget hearing as required by law, May 6th. Uh that'll be the last public presentation of the
096budget. Uh last day to register to to vote is Wednesday, May 13th. And the allimportant budget vote May 19th. Um uh polls are open 7 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. That's correct, right? Yes. And you can vote at North at the high school or at South depending on on where you live. And that uh if you have any more questions because you've asked some really great questions today. Um any additional questions? >> It's not a question. I just thank you. This is so comprehensive, thorough, thoughtful, keeps the best interest of not only our students and staff, but every taxpayer in this district. It respects them and what they expect from us. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> I was wondering if our student member had anything to share >> because we haven't we haven't let
097you get a word in edgewise to register. >> Register to vote. That's all I have to say. But this is money and budgeting is not really my thing. So I kind of let the professionals do it. >> So I I have to ask Mr. Bowler because you you circled what date students have to register to vote by. Will you be 18 by that date? >> I will not. >> Ah for shame. >> But for all the senior parents like me, if you've got someone turning 18 before May 13th like I do, let's get them registered. And just as an add-on to that, if you have kids who are away at college like I do, they can vote absentee to support this budget. That's an important point. >> When do they need to request their ballot
098by? >> A week before. >> About a week before. Perfect. Thank you. >> Earlier would be better. >> Okay. Yep. The earlier the better. Great. Thank you. for for our village clerk, for our district clerk. Let's uh >> and not that you have don't have enough to do, Miss Moran, but is there any way we could get that out publicly for, you know, our recent grads, kids who are still connected to Limbrook and who are entitled to vote >> in the budget. Can we Dr. Lynch, maybe that's a question for you. Thank you. >> Thanks. And I >> just so that you're not bombarded. >> I want to reiterate thank you um Mr. press and to your entire business office for all of the diligent work that they've done and everybody here um all the
099administrators, all the staff, everyone works so diligently to put really a fiscally responsible budget together. So, thank you. >> I would like to call public comment, but it doesn't look like there is anybody who wants to have any. So, I just want to let everybody know that our next regular meeting will be March 11th at 7:30 p.m. And I'd like to ask for a motion to adjourn. Miss Kelly, second, Mr. Cullen. All in favor. Have a great night, everybody.