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Mostly Cloudy Preliminary Rockville Centre school budget up 2.41%
Average home in village could see $400 increase
Preliminary budget figures released at the school board meeting on March 23 show a 2.41% increase in the 2011-12 budget over the current spending plan — the second lowest increase in the last 19 years — according to Robert Bartels, the school district’s assistant superintendent for business.
The “worst case scenario,” he said, would result in a projected tax levy increase of 5.49%. With home values down 2% from last year, Bartels said, the average home in Rockville Centre is now valued at $595,000, off last year’s average of $607,000, and homeowners could see a $400 increase in school taxes next year if the budget, as it is now, is adopted by the board and approved by voters. Homeowners with assessments that fell less than 2% could see a higher increase, Bartels cautioned, as would residents with homes valued above the average.
Bartels emphasized that these budget numbers are preliminary because information is missing. Adjusted base proportions (the percent each taxpayer class contributes to the overall levy), final assessment figures and state aid numbers have not yet been finalized.
School officials, he said, “are aware of the financial pressures on all Rockville Centre residents.” But Bartels said a likely reduction in state aid next year, which could total as much as $1.1 million, is a factor in the proposed spending plan, as is a dramatic drop in the school district’s interest income, due to low interest rates. Bartels noted that any restoration of state aid or other revenues would help to reduce the tax impact on homeowners.
The only significant change in spending, Bartels added, is the addition of one teacher to complete the final implementation of the elementary level foreign language program — fulfilling a pledge made by the Board of Education several years ago.
On April 12, the school board will hold a public work session that may include a discussion of the budget— and any updates on projected revenues and assessments. A preliminary budget hearing on April 27 is the last date changes can be made to the proposed spending plan before voters go to the polls on May 17 from 7 a.m. – 9 p.m. in South Side High School’s gym, for the annual school and library board election and budget vote.
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