The Garden City School District will have to wait to receive $47,000 in money due from the financially-strapped State of New York, as state officials began this week implementing Gov. David A. Paterson’s postponement of $750 million in state payments.

“We did not lose any general aid at this point,” explained Albert Chase, assistant superintendent for business and finance, at the Dec. 15th meeting of the Garden City Board of Education. “The money that we’re losing is what’s called Public Excess Cost Aid, which are funds provided to the school district for special education students, as well as lottery aid. The delay in payment for us was $47,000. It was not anything that significant. It does not put us into any financial distress.”

Chase said he expects to receive the money after January 1st, after the state begins receiving tax revenue. “We do trust that we will get that payment,” he said.

Chase explained that in the unlikely event the district does not receive the money, the funds would come out of the district fund balance, which is a fund that school districts are allowed to retain as a contingency account in case of unexpected emergencies. School districts can keep up to four percent of the total amount of the budget for this purpose.

As of press time, attorneys for the New York State United Teachers union, New York School Boards Association and others were planning to file a lawsuit in state Supreme Court to overturn the governor’s action.