Sewanhaka District Lowers Tax Levy for 2012-13 Budget

The Sewanhaka Board of Education lowered it’s estimated tax levy for the 2012-13 school year Tuesday night at their regular meeting at after being notified that $1 million in unanticipated money had became available to the district

Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Maureen Kenney reported that the district received state aid from prior school years as well as special education aid totaling $1 million, which offset an overestimation in anticipated BOCES aid of $238,813. This means that the district has approximately an extra $800,000 more than of what it previously was aware.

The windfall lowers the tax levy from a previous draft increase of 4.64 percent down to 4.04 percent.

In order to pass the 2 percent tax cap requirement where only 51 percent of the vote would be necessary to pass the budget, the tax levy would have to be 2.28 percent according to Kenney, necessitating an additional cut of $2,237,568. A tax levy of 3 percent would require only an additional $1.4 million to be cut from the budget.

“I just believe that this is going to be the harbinger of the decline of education,” board member David Del Santo said. "While these politicians are busy patting themselves on the back, they don't realize the havoc that they're wreaking on school districts throughout the state."

Four members from the board will be travelling to Albany in March as part of lobby day to speak with legislators regarding the district's budgetary situation.

“We’re really in bad shape,” board president Jean Fichtl said of the district's budgetary situation and the sentiment she hopes to express to lawmakers. “We just keep going back and hoping that sooner or later they'll hear what they've done to us.”

Franklin Square resident Felix Procacci stated that when district residents vote on the budget, some decisions have already been made for them, such as salaries. He asked that the board share the contents of contracts after they have been completed on the district's website.

“This is necessary information to make an informed choice,” he said.

The next budget workshop will be on March 14 at 8 p.m. in Sewanhaka's auditorium. At that time, potential items that could be cut from the budget will be presented.