Island Park school officials give updates on proposed budget, LIPA case

Island Park School District officials have prepared two tax levy calculations for the 2020-21 school year’s proposed budget, pending a county Legislature vote on the tentative settlement between the Long Island Power Authority and Nassau County regarding the E.F. Barrett Generation Station.

The first calculation keeps LIPA’s contributions on the tax rolls and the second puts them on a PILOT, or payment in lieu of taxes, in case the settlement passes. While the first results in a .83 percent tax levy increase and the second in a 1.55 percent increase, both result in the same dollar increase in school taxes for homeowners.

In both calculations, the levy amounts to a $267,710 increase in taxes from the 2019-20 school year. This is below Island Park’s allowable rate of increase this year, which is 2.14 percent, or an increase of $693,013 in taxes collected from homeowners.

“We’ve made a pledge to the community that we are trying not to raise the tax levy by more than 1.55 percent,” Schools Superintendent Dr. Rosmarie Bovino said at the Board of Education meeting on Feb. 24, “and we’ve done that religiously long before this tax cap was in place. This will be the 11h year we’ve done this.”

Idowu Ogundipe, school business administrator, presented the calculations to the board and community that evening. The tax levy will help fund a $40.6 million proposed 2020-21 school budget, up .73 percent from the 2019-20 school year’s budget.

The next budget presentation is March 23 at 7 p.m. in the Conference Room on Radcliffe Road, across from Francis X. Hegarty Elementary School.

District officials planned to submit tax levy numbers to the state Department of Education by March 1, after the Herald went to press, by which it was unlikely that the county Legislature would have voted on the LIPA deal. Therefore, the district was expected to submit the first tax levy calculation, officials said.

“The earliest it’s going to be voted on is sometime in March,” District Counsel Robert Cohen said. “So we’re still in there fighting, we’re still standing, we’re still swinging away and we’re trying to do the best that we can for you.”

Board of Education President Jack Vobis noted that the county has been aware of the tentative settlement for about three months now, and “if they had enough votes to pass this settlement, they would be voting on it,” he noted. “They don’t have enough votes.”

The proposed settlement with the county would cut LIPA’s tax payments on the Barrett plant in half over seven years, while leaving room for an extension of the plant contracts at the lowest tax level for another four years. This will increase Island Park residents’ school taxes.

Residents would see gradual tax increases beginning in the 2021-22 school year, an initial increase of roughly $24 per month. By the 2026-27 school year, taxpayers will see a $203-per- month increase. LIPA estimated these numbers based on the value of the average home in Island Park, about $397,000, and they are subject to change.

However, the New York State Senate passed a bill on Feb. 11 that would prohibit LIPA from receiving tax refunds from local municipalities for its properties, including the Barrett Plant, which could impact the proposed settlement. The bill now moves to the Assembly, but there was no timetable for when it would be addressed or voted on at press time.

County Executive Laura Curran said officials tried to mitigate the impact on Island Park taxpayers during talks with LIPA before reaching the proposed settlement terms.

“We tried our best at the negotiating table with LIPA but if the state Legislature thinks they can deliver a better deal, we welcome it,” Curran told the Herald in a statement. “Our residents and school districts deserve the best outcome possible. We look forward to seeing what happens in the state Legislature this session regarding LIPA’s property tax grievances.”

At the same time, the Island Park School District is part of pending litigation challenging LIPA’s efforts to cut its taxes.

“Our idea is we just have to keep letting them know that we’re here, not to wait until it does come up for vote,” Vobis said. “If it does, that probably means they have enough votes. So we’ve been persistent in trying to let them know we’re against it, and they should not be undercutting our litigation.”