NS BOARD OF EDUCATION TO DISCUSS TAX LEVY, CONTINUE BUDGET REVIEW AT 2/26 MEETING

February 22, 2015 -- On Thursday, February 26, the North Shore Board of Education will meet in the High School Library at 7:30 to continue its page by page review of the the 2015-16 budget proposal and discuss how much of the spending plan should be funded with the tax levy and how much with other revenues.  Additional items on the agenda include a review of the district's code of conduct policy.

At the first budget review in late January, Schools Superintendent Dr. Edward Melnick recommended shaving approximately $380,000 from the initial 2015-16 budget draft that had been presented two weeks earlier, while proposing that the district spend an additional $105,000 to create a new science research teaching position.   The $97,575,530 spending plan now represents an increase of 1.8% over the current year.  

Under New York State's property tax cap law, the allowable tax increase for next school year is 1.62%, Assistant Superintendent for Business Olivia Buatsi said at the January 30 meeting.  The Superintendent and Board President have already indicated that the district, like the vast majority of other districts across the state, will not exceed the limit.  The only question is whether the board will put before voters a tax levy at the limit or somewhere below it. Any difference between the anticipated expenditures and the tax levy will be made up with other revenues, including state aid and withdrawals from reserve funds. 

If the board were to put the tax levy at the limit for the upcoming year, with all other things being equal, the average taxpayer could expect to see a rise of $13.50/month in the schools portion of their tax bills - about equal to this year's increase. 

Because the district set this current year's levy at or below the tax levy limit, residents with a household income under $500,000 have been receiving reimbursement checks from New York State equal to the amount that their individual school taxes increased over last year, plus the increase paid to other taxing jurisdictions so long as those jurisdictions stayed within the tax cap as well.   

CLICK HERE FOR DRAFT #2  OF THE 2015-16 BUDGET PROPOSAL

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