By Stephanie Petrellese

The Garden City Board of Education officially adopted a budget totaling $95,215,587 at its April 21st meeting. This is a budget to budget increase of .75 percent.

Residents will face a tax levy increase (with STAR) of 1.57 percent. To determine your exact tax increase, visit the district's Web site, www.gardencity.k12.ny.us and click on the quick link "Property Tax Calculator." Through this site, residents can access Nassau County Dept. of Assessment's Web site, where they can type in their tax lot information and find out how much their tax will increase. The amount will not reflect STAR program discounts.

State law requires the school budget to be divided into three parts: administrative, program/instruction and capital. Garden City's proposed budget allots 73.43 percent to program/instruction, 15 percent to capital needs and 11.57 percent to administration.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen said it was very difficult to develop the budget and keep a balance between the resources the district needs to accomplish its mission and goals with the cost given today's dreary fiscal climate.

There are no new programs being proposed in the adopted budget. Dr. Feirsen explained that expenditure increases are driven by an increase in costs for mandated special education programs; contractual salary increases and related benefits; and an assumed increase in the Social Security ceiling from $106,800 to $111,400.

The district has been able to keep costs down by instituting strong controls on overtime, utilizing more efficient payroll processes, expanding the use of cooperative bids, automating the district's attendance system and tracking of receivables in the district's business office, reducing print advertising for staff recruitment and adopting more environmentally friendly initiatives to reduce energy consumption. The district's proposed budget includes use of worker's compensation reserves to help alleviate taxpayer burden.

The capital portion of the budget totals $14,337,196, or 11.56 percent of the overall budget. Realizing the $20 million proposed bond referendum will need to be voted on by the public, and will likely be a very tough sell given the economy, administrators met with the architect from the firm Burton, Behrendt and Smith to determine what smaller-scale projects could be included in the annual capital budget as opposed to a bond initiative. The district was able to reduce the recommendations of the ad hoc Committee on Facilities by $837,000.

When it comes to the bond being considered to fund capital improvements in the district, Dr. Feirsen said he will work with BBS and the ad hoc committee to move the process along. He hopes the school board will be able to decide within the next six to eight weeks whether or not a bond should be offered up for a public vote. The board will also have to decide what projects should be included.

If the school budget is approved, major projects in the next year to be undertaken at the high school include the upgrading and ventilation in the science wing, fitness center and 1966 addition. Measures need to be taken to correct a water seepage problem on the building's Rockaway Avenue side. At the middle school, projects include installing one bathroom on each floor that is fully compliant with the American with Disabilities Act, installing kitchen hoods and ventilation system in the cafeteria work area and installing a high jump pit.

Money will be allocated to clean up the crawl space at the Middle School. Lead was discovered in a room adjacent to the boys' locker room in the Middle School basement that had once been used as a rifle range. All areas have been tested and are no longer considered to be contaminated and the room has been sealed. However, the contaminated sand in that room will need to be removed.

The lower schools will also get much-needed repairs. At Stratford School, the ceiling of a room in the basement once used for coal storage will be reinforced and a new clock/bell system will be installed. At Hemlock, Homestead and Locust Schools, the fire alarm system will be upgraded to add enhancements, including ADA accessibility.

If the budget is passed, the final phase of the disaster recovery plan for business continuity will be implemented and the floors and sidewalks replacements at all buildings will be continued. The district-wide, off-site disaster recovery system is needed to ensure business continuity in case the district's software and hardware is destroyed.

Under transportation, Dr. Feirsen stressed that it is important to stay on target with the scheduled replacement of school buses and other vehicles to replace an aging fleet. The 2009/2010 budget includes $425,975 for the purchase of three new 66-passenger buses and a service car. The district is participating in a transportation consortium with other districts to help bring down costs. After school trips are combined whenever possible.

Dr. Feirsen recommends adding one full-time equivalent position in special education, most likely at the primary level, and reserving one FTE position in case of a potential enrollment increase. However, he suggests several reductions that equate to a net reduction of 4.9 full-time equivalent positions: teaching staff at the elementary schools would be reduced by four due to enrollment decreases, teaching staff at the high school would be reduced by 2.5 when electives with low enrollments are removed from the schedule and a technology staff developer position would be reduced to 4.

At Stratford, Dr. Feirsen proposes adding a .5 FTE nurse but reducing a nurse's secretary position from 1 to .5 so there will be no significant impact on the budget.

There will be no change in class size guidelines. "Life will go on pretty much as it has this year," he said.

If the current proposed budget is passed, the district will spend $14,662 per pupil, which is just four dollars higher than the lowest amount when compared with 11 other districts in Nassau County with residents in a similar income bracket: Jericho, Locust Valley, Great Neck, Manhasset, North Shore, Roslyn, East Williston, Syosset, Port Washington, Rockville Centre and Herricks. With $14,658 allotted per pupil, Herricks is the only district in this group that spends less than Garden City.

This comparison is done every year to show residents that they are getting a comparable level of quality for less money. In Nassau County, Garden City is ranked eighth in wealth by the state and 31st in per pupil spending.

When class 1 tax rates are compared to other districts in Nassau County, Garden City ranked 45th with a rate of $371.185 in 2008-09. Levittown has the highest tax rate, totaling $696.743.

If the budget is defeated, state law has set the contingent budget increase at four percent or less. However, the proposed budget increase is less than four percent. "A contingency budget must be less than a budget rejected by voters," explained Dr. Feirsen.

If the proposed budget is not approved, contingent budget regulations would require the school district to reduce its expenditures by $1,544,000. Programs that may be eliminated include after-school child care, continuing education and summer enrichment. Cuts may also be made in categories including non-emergency capital items, bus purchases, technology equipment, co-curricular and athletic programs and instructional and non-instructional staff.

In addition, if the district is in austerity, all community groups would be charged for all expenses associated with the use of facilities, including fields. Dr. Feirsen said the district would be called upon to develop a formula to be applied to all organizations.

Overall, a contingent budget would result in a budget-to-budget increase of .88 percent. The difference in cost to homeowners between the proposed budget and a contingent budget would be approximately $125 a year, or a little over $10 a month.

Dr. Feirsen said he is concerned with two proposals currently being considered by the legislature. The state and county are pushing to shift 15 percent of the cost for preschool special education to school districts, which would mean the district would have to pay $300,000. The state and counties currently fund a significant portion of this education and school districts are responsible for coordinating the services. Dr. Feirsen said it "seems unlikely" that this proposal will be adopted, but it's "not totally out of the picture."

The superintendent is also concerned about another proposal being considered which will require the school district, and all employers in areas served by the MTA, to pay a payroll tax. He estimated that the district will have to pay approximately $160,000 if the tax is implemented.

A public hearing on the budget will be held on Monday, May 11. Garden City residents will be able to vote on the budget on Tuesday, May 19 from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the high school.