At the April 29 Island Trees Board of Education meeting the board passed a resolution to adopt a proposal for the 1998-99 school year budget. The grand total on the proposed budget is $30,224,894. This increase of $1,602,528 from last year's budget produces an estimated tax rate increase of $1.93 per $100 of assessed valuation.

Board President Jerry Donahue prefaced the resolution by stating, "we are just approving the recommendation from the board to go out to the public." He wanted to make this fact clear because normally a grand total would not be presented to the district before the public hearing but because of new state restrictions the proposal had to be presented this way. The public budget hearing will take place on May 12. The district newsletter has been sent out to all residents and outlines what is in the budget so that residents can be aware of this before the public hearing and before the budget vote which will take place on May 19.

In a three part budget comparison the district broke the budget down into sections labeled Administrative, Program, and Capital. In the proposed budget there is $3,096,196 set aside for administrative components. This is down from last year's $3,137,996 and represents 10.24 percent of this year's budget. Over the last five years the district has cut out one administration position, added 12 full time teachers, and added one part time teacher. These new teachers became necessary because of the increase of 386 students in grades K-12 in the district over the last five years. The program component of the budget represents 74.55 percent of the total budget. The dollar figure on this is $22,532,962, which is an increase from last year's budget of $1,650,394. The money put aside in the budget for capital is down $6,066 from last year's $4,601,802. This year it represents only 15.21 percent of the budget.

The district's revenue has increased by $916,000, which is an 8.33 percent increase from last year. This money comes from the fund balance, state aid, the Nassau County Drug Program, charges for services, real property rental, interest earnings, and other revenues.

If the budget is not passed at the budget vote then the district would be required to operate under an austerity budget. According to the district newsletter, "under the new state law an austerity budget must be capped at the lesser of 120 percent of the consumer price index or over 4 percent over the previous budget. For the budget year 1998-99 the Island Trees budget would have to be capped at 2.76 percent. A contingent or austerity budget funds salaries for all employees and those items that the board determines are ordinary contingent expenses."

The board unanimously agreed upon the $30,224,894 budget that will be presented to the residents for the budget vote.

Island Trees residents are being asked to vote on a separate referendum to reduce bus transportation mileage distances at the same time as they vote on the budget.

If passed the new bus transportation mileage will reduce transportation mileage distances for grades 2 through 4 from three quarters of a mile to a half a mile. It will reduce the distance for grades 7 through 8 from one mile to three quarters of a mile. This referendum will also decrease the bus mileage distances for grades 10 through 12 from one and a half miles to one mile.

The referendum states, "That the 1998-99 School District budget appropriation for transportation be increased by the sum of $95,000 in addition to the exhibited budget appropriation for existing transportation in the 1998-99 budget for the purpose of funding this amendment to the current School District transportation policy." It also states, "That the additional appropriation shall be raised by and within the tax levy for each fiscal year."

The district estimates that it will have to lease two additional 66 passenger buses to transport the additional children who will be included in the transportation allotment. They also estimate that the cost of leasing these two buses will increase the assessed valuation by .26 per $100.

There are two School Board Trustee seats that will be voted on at the May 19 budget vote. Richard Ahrens and Carl Bonsignore are running for one seat, which Bonsignore currently holds, and Peter Ray is running unopposed for the seat to which he was appointed last January.