In the wake of Tuesday's vote by the Nassau Legislature to proceed with county-wide reassessment, it was natural that questions about the impact on school district residents would be raised at the March 27 meeting of the Garden City Board of Education. In response, school district officials reviewed Garden City's unique taxing structure and explained that reassessment will have less impact on this area than on many others.

"In our community, many services are provided by the Incorporated Village of Garden City rather than by the county," noted Dan Bryan, assistant superintendent for business. "These include the police and fire departments, sanitation, recreation and sewers- just to name a few."

In fact, according to a school district analysis, only about 20 percent of local residents' bills reflect county levies for parks, Nassau Community College, county police headquarters, general purpose funds and other services.

"So only about one-fifth of an average tax bill would be affected by a reassessment and reapportionment of property taxes, county-wide," said Bryan. "The school tax levy is specific to Garden City." Garden City residents will not be assuming the burden of other school districts under the proposed county reassessment.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Stephen Leitman, reminded residents of the district's commitment to fiscally responsible planning. "We are always mindful of the need to build a sound budget- and one that will support the kind of quality programs that this community expects from us."

The school board is currently reviewing the budget proposed by Dr. Leitman and his administration. Even with the increases as proposed, the total school tax bill will remain lower than that of comparable communities. Dr. Leitman said, "The proposed budget is designed to maintain the quality of our educational program. Strong schools support strong property values."

A public hearing will be held on May 8 in the Garden City High School cafeteria.

District	Enrollment	Assessment	Tax Rate/ $100 of AV	Total School Tax Bill	Per Pupil Expenditure
Garden City	3,702	$10,332 (average)	$40.864	$4,222.07	$13,076
Great Neck	6,039	$13,022 (average)	$38.978	$5,075.72	$18,915
Jericho	2,806	$13,098 (average)	$43.499	$5,697.50	$16,808
Lawrence	3,837	$8,769 (average)	$49.896	$4,375.38	$16,437
Manhasset	2,435	$13,214 (average)	$43.875	$5,797.64	$19,832