Capital Reserve Fund Proposition Highlights

The district’s 2010 Building Conditions Survey was presented to the board of education by the district’s architect, John A. Grillo Associates, Architects, PC, at its public meeting on Jan. 20. At its meeting on March 17 the board determined that it is necessary to undertake certain capital projects identified as a result of the district’s 2010 Building Conditions Survey and other priority projects.

Capital Reserve Proposition 2 on the May 17 ballot will cover projects with a total estimated cost of $2,405,725, and will be funded from the balance of 2010 Capital Reserve Fund plus interest and the General Fund un-appropriated unreserved funds of no more than  $286,991. There will be no additional cost to the taxpayer.

2011-2012 Superintendent’s Proposed 2.53 Percent Budget Highlights

• Mandated pension contributions to the New York State Retirement System and healthcare contributions total over $2.5 million – driving nearly a 4 percent budget-to-budget increase.

• To bring the budget increase down to 2.53 percent, the superintendent recommends eliminating the assistant to the superintendent position and nearly 12 additional reductions in full-time equivalent personnel, along with other belt-tightening measures.

• This 2.53 percent increase would permit full replication of all core elementary and secondary academic, co-curricular and athletics programs, with limited impact on some elective offerings at the secondary school.

County Slashes Budget, Cuts Services and Jobs, Drops Lawsuit

NIFA Freezes Raises, Declares Crisis, Says Budget Still Not Balanced

On Jan. 26 of this year, NIFA declared a control period in Nassau, assuming direct authority over the county’s budget. After that declaration, County Executive Edward P. Mangano led a legal effort to fight the takeover, which resulted in a court-ordered stay of the takeover until a 29-page legal decision from New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Diamond allowed the control period, and the county subsequently announced this week that it was dropping any further action. As a result of that decision, Mangano was forced to submit a new budget that eliminated what NIFA found to be a $176 million deficit. In order to do this without raising taxes, the county executive submitted plans to NIFA on March 22 that included major layoffs, cuts in services and pay furloughs. On March 18, the county executive requested a “wage freeze” or suspension of any pay increases to county employees. This required NIFA’s consent and would save over $10 million. 

Long Island Rail Road Opens Info Center at Great Neck Station

Port Washington Branch Customers Invited to Learn How Proposed Colonial Road Improvement Project Will Improve Their Service

MTA Long Island Rail Road is opening a special Information Center at Great Neck Station for LIRR Port Washington Branch customers to learn about the proposed Colonial Road Improvement Project and how it will improve service for the entire Port Washington Branch.  The Info Center–which will be open Tuesday, March 29 through Sunday April 3–will have LIRR personnel on hand to discuss the details of the LIRR’s proposed project to replace the 114-year-old Colonial Road Bridge, address track drainage problems and extend an existing pocket track east of Great Neck Station as part of the effort to bring LIRR service to Grand Central Terminal.

Questions for Candidates for Manhasset Public Library Trustee

The candidates for Manhasset Public Library Trustee were given questions by the Manhasset Press to enable the community to better understand their positions. Following are the questions and their answers.

Two candidates are running to fill one five-year-term on the Manhasset Public Library Board of Trustees being vacated by Richard Tortora. The candidates are Robert Carrozzo and David M. Ehrlich.

The League of Women Voters of Port Washington/Manhasset will sponsor a Candidates’ Night for the candidates running for Manhasset Library Board. The event will take place on Tuesday, March 29 at 7 p.m. in the downstairs Community Room of the Manhasset Library.

The community is invited to attend.

- Pat Grace

Update on Manhasset School Budget and Proposition #2

Proposed Budget-to-Budget Increase

Stands at 2.53% Representing a

Tax Levy to Levy Increase of 2.91%

It was a pretty good crowd for a school board meeting—including school personnel, upwards of 50 people—at the Shelter Rock Elementary School auditorium on March 17. Although she never spoke Linda Stampler stole the show. Stampler teaches business courses at the high school, some are destined for the chopping block, and her students lobbied articulately for reinstatement of those classes.

Dr. William Shine, assistant to the superintendent, likewise has his head on the chopping block, a preemptive strike, explained the administration, to eliminate that argument from those who would use his presence to vote the budget down.

“This is a hostile economic environment,” Deputy Superintendent for Business and Finance Rosemary Johnson said, “a budget to budget increase of 3.67 percent a few years ago would have been considered great, but not today, the world has changed. The past two years the increase year over year has been 1.23 percent and 2.98 percent—we used some reserves to keep it down. “Even so,” she recalled, “last year 3,100 voted and the budget passed by only 140 votes.”

Manhasset’s Watermelon Patch Closes After 18 Years

Owner Recalls a ‘Walking Town’

With Variety of Small Shops

For the past 18 years, since 1993, Susanne Gries has owned The Watermelon Patch at 500 Plandome Road. Like so many on Plandome Road before her she will be closing the door, locking it for the last time on April 15.

Gries is leaving for a combination of reasons, including, of course, the economy. “I’ve been just making enough in the shop to keep it running, hoping it will get better, but it hasn’t been good the last few years. And last fall going into the holidays I said to myself, let’s just get past this. Unfortunately, having given myself the timetable, I had to admit, I can’t do it any longer, it just doesn’t pay.”

Susanne explained how she came to operate the store—“I just inherited it.” The owner before her, Florence, rented near the movie theater where several other individuals showcased their collections, “it was run like a cooperative,” Gries explained. Everyone left within the first year except Susanne and then, in 2001, Florence left too, leaving Gries the sole proprietor.

Two Candidates Vie for One Open Library Trustee Seat

Interested Manhasset residents were invited to register for a five-year term on the Manhasset Public Library Board of Trustees. The opening is for the seat currently held by Richard Tortora, who has decided not to run. Two candidates, Robert Carrozzo and David Ehrlich, filed petitions for the five-year term as library trustee prior to the Monday, March 14, 5 p.m. deadline.

Mark your calendar for Tuesday, March 29, when the League of Women Voters will sponsor a “Meet the Candidates Night” at the Manhasset Public Library in the downstairs Community Room.

The budget vote and trustee elections will take place on Wednesday, April 13.

The Manhasset Public Library provided the Manhasset Press with the following short biographies of the candidates.             

-PG

2011-12 Manhasset School Budget Process Begins

Reductions Reviewed Include Eliminating

Assistant to Superintendent Position

(Submitted by the Manhasset Board of Education)

The 2011-2012 budget process began on Saturday, March 5 as Superintendent Charlie Cardillo and his administrative team gave members of the community a comprehensive look at the many difficult decisions that must be made before the Manhasset Board of Education adopts its budget. This year’s statewide annual Budget Vote and Board Election will be Tuesday, May 17. In an economic and political climate that is the most hostile in years for public education, Mr. Cardillo reviewed the unprecedented challenges facing school districts across New York State. These challenges include large increases in state mandated retirement contributions; a steep rise in health care contributions; the 2 percent tax levy cap which may be in effect for the 2012-13 school year; and state laws that severely limit the options available to boards of education and administrators to make fiscally responsible choices. The events unfolding in Ohio and Wisconsin are occurring in a different political environment than currently exists in New York State.

Village Elections Are Tuesday, March 15

All Elections Are Uncontested

Elections in most Manhasset villages will take place on Tuesday, March 15 from noon to 9 p.m. Petitions to file to run for office were due by the end of the business day on Feb. 7. All elections are uncontested.

Elections will be held in June in the Village of North Hills.

In Flower Hill, incumbent Trustees Tab M. Hauser, Aviva Pinto, Avery Ryan and Elaine Phillips are each running unopposed for another two-year term. All are members of the Flower Hill Party. The election will take place at the Flower Hill Village Hall, 1 Bonnie Heights Road.