When the proposed 2003-2004 Mineola School District budget failed twice last year, the district wasn't greatly impacted since there wasn't much of a difference between the proposed budget and the contingency budget, which the board of education ended up adopting.

This coming May's vote, however, figures to be more crucial since another contingency budget could put some non-mandated programs in jeopardy. In an effort to give the public a better understanding of what the district is proposing to run its educational program for the 2004-2005 school year, the district has begun holding presentations with more comprehensive information on the budget.

Assistant Superintendent for Business and Operations for the Mineola School District John Jackson said the district tried to make the budget more user friendly. The budget is broken down by category with a brief description of what is included in the categories. Expenditures are also broken down by code. "We've received a lot of compliments on the fact that's it's much easier to read than in the past," Mr. Jackson said.

On Thursday, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Lorenzo Licopoli gave a budget presentation at the Willis Avenue School during which he answered questions from the board and the public.

The district is proposing a budget of $65,405,643, an increase in spending of $3,104,184 or 5 percent over the 2003-2004 budget, to fund its educational program for next year. Of the $65,405,643, $60,005,672 is expected to be raised by taxes, an increase of 5.4 percent from the 2003-2004 budget.

The district expects the budget-to-budget increase and the tax levy increase to be among the lowest in Nassau County.

In putting together a proposed budget, the district sets certain parameters. According to the district, the proposed budget supports all current educational and support programs to help all children reach new graduation requirements and programs to meet the individual needs of the students and includes funds to meet all of the school district's contractual obligations. According to Dr. Licopoli, the budget is a "hold steady" budget, which means it takes the current educational program and it advances it to next year.

In formulating a budget, the district has had to deal with some factors that have led to an increase in spending such as increases in the teacher's retirement, employee retirement system and health insurance. Those three factors combined with the estimated consumer price index increase of 3.2 percent accounts for a 6.2 percent spending increase. The district was able to reduce the increase since it expects to close the 2003-2004 school year with a $1.9 million fund balance. Since the unappropriated fund balance for the 2004-2005 budget will be $1,246,029, the district plans on using the remaining $653,971 to reduce the tax levy.

The budget also includes $850,000 to complete the Mineola High School First Floor Master Plan including the main office and guidance suites. Work is expected to begin on May 15 on the Mineola High School Library project to reconfigure and renovate the library, the cost of which was approved in the 2001-2002 budget. Also, the budget calls for two full-time equivalent teaching positions to account for a projected enrollment increase.

If the budget is passed, the average resident of the district can expect to pay $189 more without the STAR exemption, $138 with Basic Star and $104 for Enhanced Star. However, those numbers are based on last year's assessed valuation and adjusted base proportion. If the assessed valuation were to decrease or the adjusted base proportion were to shift more toward residential properties, residents could see more of a tax increase if the budget were to pass.

The assessed valuation comes out April 1 and the adjusted based proportion comes out May 1.