New Hyde Park-Garden City Park 2011-2012 Budget Primer

Voters will head to the polls on Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the to weigh in on the local budgets. For the school district, , and are all running uncontested for spots on the board of education.

The budget is $33,527,125, according to a note from handed out at the last board of education meeting. That number breaks down into: $3,684,946 in the administrative budget, $24,434,535 in the program budget and $5,407,644 in the capital budget.

The budget-to-budget increase this year is 2.97 percent, the lowest in 10 years. Approximately three quarters of this year's budget is tied to salaries and benefits, Assistant Superintendent for Business Michael Frank . Those benefits have gone up in the case of the teacher retirement system from about 8.62 percent to about 11.5 percent, Frank said.

Katulak noted during a March budget meeting that as a result of budget cuts. He said of the budget at that meeting, "It also delivers a staffing budget that not one employee loses a job. We were able to maintain all programs except for the outdoor education experience for fifth and sixth grade students, which will now be supplemented with in-district Project Adventure activities."

Staff will be kept, but in some cases district employees will be re-deployed to other areas, Katulak said at the March meeting. Also, aides in the district will have their time cut by a .

If the budget fails and a contingency budget must be used, the difference between the proposed budget and the contingency on the average tax bill is $40.42.