To the dismay of many villagers, Nassau County residents, by a vote of 4,515 to 3,135, gave Nassau BOCES permission to purchase two buildings, including 71 Clinton Road in Garden City, and some "relocatable classrooms" during the Nov. 19 referendum. The presidents of Garden City's four Property Owners' Associations (POAs) released a joint statement:

"The Garden City Property Owners' Associations would like to thank all Garden City residents for their concern and their vote on the BOCES referendum November 19. We believe the referendum passed this week because the BOCES board decided to lump important 'child related' building purchases in other parts of Nassau County with the one 'administrative only' building purchase in Garden City.

"We hope that the BOCES board will review their current process for allocating costs of a building purchase when the building is to be taken off the tax roles. Their so-called 'equal allocation' is not at all equal. The district which loses the property and school tax revenue receives a disproportionate share of the costs," the statement said.

Claiming the Nov. 19 referendum will result in reduced expenses for local school districts, Nassau BOCES District Superintendent Dr. Jerry Shiveley said, "By law, our facilities charges are passed along to local school districts. Over the next 10 years, we estimate these charges will be reduced by at least $7.9 million as the result of this vote."

Specifically, voters approved the purchase of:

* The Nassau BOCES Administrative Center, an office and conference facility in Garden City, and authorized borrowing $14.8 million from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) to fund the purchase. Nassau BOCES is currently renting this building from a commercial landlord.

* Voters also approved the purchase of the Rosemary Kennedy Center in Wantagh, a special education school. Nassau County built the center for this use in the early 70s and Nassau BOCES has been renting it ever since. The rent was set according to the county's outstanding bonded indebtedness. Now, the bond has been paid off and Nassau BOCES has the option to acquire title to the building for the nominal amount of $10.

* An existing 5,000-square foot relocatable building and four new relocatable classrooms for use by outdoor education programs and an alternative high school at the Nassau BOCES Brookville Environmental Education site. (Purchase price and installation" up to $400,000.)

The four POA presidents continued, stating, "BOCES has long been an important contributor to the education system in Nassau County. We support the BOCES programs. However, the BOCES board has to be more fiscally responsible when it comes to administrative expenses.

"Although the 71 Clinton Road building purchase has some long term cost benefits to Nassau County, it is clear that the office space for the administration is extravagant, both in the amount of space and the furnishings for the executives. Additionally, this referendum approved an additional purchase of 10,000 square feet of administrative office space. How many residents of Nassau County really understood what they were approving?

"I'm sure that if we compare the facilities currently used by the children who are being educated by BOCES in Nassau County to the executive offices being purchased, the BOCES board would be embarrassed and Nassau residents would be outraged.

"We hope that the school districts will carefully review the BOCES budgets in the future to ensure our tax dollars are being spent for the benefit of our children and the administrative costs are kept at a minimum."

More than 7,500 people turned out Nov. 19 to vote, more people than in any of the other three votes held by Nassau BOCES in recent years. "We responded to feedback that we didn't have enough convenient polling sites in the past and increased the number from eight to 22," Shiveley said. "This made it easier for residents in such areas as Oyster Bay, Glen Cove, Valley Stream and Long Beach to vote."

Board President George Farber added, "We are delighted that the voters supported a referendum that will ultimately save them millions of dollars. It is our responsibility to do what is right for the taxpayers of Nassau County."

Part of the public school system, the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) provides a wide variety of shared services to the 56 school districts in Nassau. Among these are arts in education, special education and career education programs, alternative schools, distance learning, teacher training and other programs that support the use of technology in the schools.