LIPA ordered to pay debts for current school year

The Long Island Power Authority was ordered by State Supreme Court Justice Anthony Marano to make Nassau County school districts whole on Feb. 23, replenishing a portion of a $50 million shortfall the schools have contested was owed to them for property tax payments during the 2015-16 school year.

“Obviously, that’s welcome news,” said Valley Stream Central High School District Superintendent Bill Heidenreich. “That’s money that we counted on.”

Districts typically received Payments in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOTs, from LIPA twice per year: One payment for July through December, and another for January through June. When LIPA paid 7.4 percent less than what the county billed for the first half of the school year, the school districts felt the shortfall. The schools insisted the county’s assessments were incorrect, the county insisted that LIPA’s calculations were incorrect and LIPA insisted that their calculations were in accordance with the LIPA Reform Act of 2013. The dispute prompted 32 lawsuits from area school districts.

Where Valley Stream is slightly different than other Nassau County school districts is in its segmented high school district. Since no specific residential area defines the district, about half of the payments that elementary districts collect are kicked up to the high school district.

The amounts LIPA owed for the 2015-16 school year were roughly $900,000 for District 30, $700,000 for District 24 and $600,000 for District 13, for a combined total of $2.2 million. Of that, $1.2 million is owed by proxy to the high school district.

“This school year, all the money that LIPA had withheld from the budget, they now have to turn it over to us immediately,” said Richard Zuckerman, District 24’s attorney, at the district’s Feb. 24 Board of Education meeting. “That hole in the budget will be filled.”

The temporary restraining order ensures that LIPA will pay the full debt owed to school districts for the current school year, though the arrangement between LIPA, Nassau County and school administrations for subsequent years remains unclear.

“The claim in this case is certainly not over,” said District 30 Assistant Superintendent for Business Lisa Rutkoske.