Taxpayers Urge Lindy Board of Ed Not to Pierce Cap

Lindenhurst residents drew the line after Superintendent Richard Nathan gave the latest school overview for the school year.

The parents and taxpayers who attended the community input and budget overview night - the of this spring's budget public - told Nathan, the administration and the that while they don't want to see student programs cut, they need some relief.

"I implore you to keep at the top of the list the fiduciary obligation to taxpayers," Maria Kalish said.

Residents made it clear that they cannot afford another increase like the 6.89 percent tax-levy hike that was , and they strongly urged the Lindenhurst Board of Education not to pierce the tax cap.

Their resolve got even stronger when they learned from Nathan and the BOE that the potential was there to go over the new two-percent tax cap.

In fact, according to Nathan in his presentation, the BOE could decide to go out to vote on with up to a 3.57 percent tax-levy increase.

"At 3.57 percent most programs would remain in place," Nathan said. "If the board decides to stay at exactly two percent, then programs will have to suffer."

(See the accompanying PDF file of Nathan's presentation for more information.)

Nathan and the BOE explained that the exact percentage increase depends not only on expenditures - which show a decrease from 2.23 percent for 2011-12 to two percent for 2012-13 - but also on revenue, which includes any state aid the district might receive.

The final state aid figure the  will receive is still in flux as legislators work out the state's 2012-13 budget, they said.

However, Assemblyman was confident at the on that should come in at a little more than the initially released in January.

Lindenhurst Council of PTAs President implored the board to help get the voices of the taxpayers, parents and school districts of Long Island heard in Albany. She was upset that it seemed that the island foots the bill for much of the state, and it cannot do that anymore.

"We're hurting and we need to save Long Island schools," she said, pointing out that she and some 4,000 other parents have in a group called Save Long Island Schools.

Board members, including president Ed Murphy, Jr., Ray Doran and Val McKenna, have said they are aiming to remain under the tax cap.

"We do not intend to pierce the cap," Murphy said.

Resident John Lisi took issue with the current school year's tax levy during the public comment portion of the meeting.

He said residents heard from the BOE that the tax-levy increase would most likely be between three and four percent for 2011-12, but then were shocked when the BOE went for a 6.89 percent tax-levy increase at the end of the process.

Murphy countered that at the start of last year's process the increase was "ballparked" at roughly 10 percent, and the figure went down from there.

"We listened to taxpayers and to students who all pleaded their cases, and the board decided to give the community the opportunity to keep or cut programs on the first vote. The budget passed," he said. "If it didn't, then we would've had to cut programs."

Editor's Note: Stay with Lindenhurst Patch for more information about and coverage of the as the in Lindenhurst gets underway.

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